Arthurian Knights

Monday, 4 May 2009

Based on medieval Arthurian legends, The Once and Future King is a twentieth-century version of young Arthur's quest for the sword Excalibur and his claim to the throne of England. Including many well-known and much-loved episodes with Merlyn, the sorcerer; Morgan La Fay, the witch; and knights jousting and hounds engaged in the hunt, White's novel adds to the lore surrounding the person of King Arthur.

Quartet of novels by T.H. White, published in a single volume in 1958. The quartet comprises The Sword in the Stone (1938), The Queen of Air and Darkness--first published as The Witch in the Wood (1939)--The Ill-Made Knight (1940), and The Candle in the Wind (published in the composite volume, 1958). The series is a retelling of the Arthurian legend, from Arthur's birth to the end of his reign, and is based largely on Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte Darthur. After White's death, a conclusion to The Once and Future King was found among his papers; it was published in 1977 as The Book of Merlyn.

The Once and Future King defies classification. Is it for children, or for adults? Is it fantasy or a psychological novel? In its great range, it encompasses poetry and farce, comedy and tragedy -and sudden flights of schoolboy humour. White's footnote to Malory' (his own phrase) resulted in the last major retelling of the story based on Malory's Morte DarthurWhite's story of Arthur begins with his enfances', set in an imaginary medieval England, but it is far removed from the conventional historical novel. White was writing in wartime England, a country increasingly absorbed by a need to find an antidote to war. Through the medium of the Arthurian story he found his own voice, his unique contribution to keeping alive the flame of civilisation. Malory's chivalric virtues are rejected in favour of White's own twentieth-century values; the love affair of Lancelot and Guenever is interpreted in terms of modern psychology. The books which eventually made up The Once and Future Kingof 1958 appeared in distinctly different editionsIn discussing these, we need to look at some of the ways in which White drew on his own personal experience at a deep psychological level, while also incorporating into his story material inspired by his antiquarian pursuits and by his years as a schoolmaster. White's use of historical material, and the relationship of The Once and Future King to the Morte Darthur

merlin One of the most fascinating figures in the Welsh mythology and the Arthurian legend is Merlin, the great wizard, prophet and adviser to several kings, including King Arthur.Name Merlin.Myrddin (Welsh).Merlinus (Latin).Emrys (Welsh), Ambrosius (Latin);Merlin Ambrosius.Merlin Calidonius.Sources

Historia regum Britanniae ("History of the Kings of Britain", c. 1137) andthe Vita Merlini ("Life of Merlin", c. 1152) were written by Geoffrey of Monmouth.Roman de Brut ("Story of Brutus") was written by Wace, c. 1155.Brut was written by Layamon, c. 1200.Merlin was written by Robert de Boron, c. 1200.Vulgate Merlin or Prose Merlin was adaptation of Boron's Merlin, c. 1210.Suite de Merlin was part of Post Vulgate Cycle, c. 1240.Le Morte d'Arthur was written by Thomas Malory, 1469.Historia Brittonum was written by Nennius (9th century).

"In dark age Britain we have to recognize various adverse factor, such as the loss and destruction of manuscripts by invading armies; the character of the early material, oral rather than written; the decline of learning and even literacy among the Welsh monks who might have kept reliable records. The whole period is plunged in obscurity from the same causes. People who were certainly real and important are no better attested."

Since we don't have the necessary fifth and sixth century records, it's impossible to say absolutely that Merlin did or did not exist.

- From Tennyson's "Idylls"

The pale blood of the wizard at her touch

Took gayer colours, like an opal warmed.

She blamed herself for telling hearsay tales:

She shook from fear, and for her fault she wept

Of petulancy; she called him lord and liege,

Her seer, her bard, her silver star of eve,

Her God, her Merlin, the one passionate love

Of her whole life; and ever overhead

Bellowed the tempest, and the rotten branch

Snapt in the rushing of the river-rain

Above them; and in change of glare and gloom

Her eyes and neck glittering went and came;

Till now the storm, its burst of passion spent,

Moaning and calling out of other lands,

Had left the ravaged woodland yet once more

To peace; and what should not have been had been,

For Merlin, overtalked and overworn,

Had yielded, told her all the charm, and slept.

Legendary Roots - Possible Merlins

Transformation of Celtic Mythology in Arthurian Legend

There may have been a real Merlin, such as the one Nikolai Tolstoy describes in Quest for Merlin: "...Merlin was indeed an historical figure, living in what are now the lowlands of Scotland at the end of the sixth century A.D...an authentic prophet, most likely a druid surviving in a pagan enclave of the north."The Merlin prototype may have been a Celtic druid named Lailoken who gained second sight after he went mad and escaped society to live in the forest.

A poem from A.D. 600 describes a Welsh prophet named Myrddin

Nennius

The 9th century monk Nennius, described as "inventive" in his history writing, wrote about Merlin, a fatherless Ambrosius, and prophesies. Despite Nennius' lack of reliability, he is a source for us today because Nennius used fifth century sources that are no longer extant.

In Math The Son of Mathonwy, from the classic collection of Welsh tales known as the Mabinogion, Gwydion, a bard and magician, performs love spells and uses cunning to protect and help an infant boy. While some see this Gwydion trickster as Arthur, others see in him as Merlin. Passages from Nennius' History(www.britannia.com/history/docs/nennius.html)

Sections on Vortigern include the following prophecy referred to in Part I of the Merlin television mini-series: "You must find a child born without a father, put him to death, and sprinkle with his blood the ground on which the citadel is to be built, or you will never accomplish your purpose." The child was Ambrose.ORB -- Sub-Roman Britain: An Introduction Following barbarian raids, troop withdrawals from Britain ordered by Magnus Maximus in A.D. 383, Stilicho in 402, and Constantine III in 407, the Roman administration elected three tyrants: Marcus, Gratian, and Constantine. However, we have little information from the actual time period -- three dates and the writing of Gildas and St. Patrick, who rarely writes about Britain.Gildas

In A.D. 540, Gildas wrote De Excidio Britanniae ("The Ruin of Britain") which includes an historical explanation. This site's translated passages mention Vortigern and Ambrosius Aurelianus.

Geoffrey of Monmouth

In 1138, combining Nennius' history and Welsh tradition about a bard named Myrddin, Geoffrey of Monmouth completed his Historia Regum Britanniae, which traces the British kings to the great-grandson of Aeneas, Trojan hero and legendary founder of Rome. In about A.D. 1150, Geoffrey also wrote a Vita Merlini. Merlin: Texts, Images, Basic Information(Merlin) Apparently worried that the Anglo-Norman audience would take offense at the similarity between the name Merdinus and merde, Geoffrey changed the prophet's name. Geoffrey's Merlin helps Uther Pendragon and moves the stones to Stonehenge from Ireland. Geoffrey also wrote a Prophecies of Merlin which he later incorporated into his History.

Merlin is best known as the wizard featured in Arthurian legend. The standard depiction of the character first appears in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, and is based on an amalgamation of previous historical and legendary figures. Geoffrey combined existing stories of Myrddin Wyllt (Merlinus Caledonensis), a northern madman with no connection to King Arthur, with tales of Aurelius Ambrosius to form the composite figure he called Merlin Ambrosius.Geoffrey's rendering of the character was immediately popular; later writers expanded the account to produce a fuller image of the wizard. Merlin's traditional biography casts him as born of mortal woman, sired by an incubus, the non-human wellspring from whom he inherits his supernatural powers and abilities. Merlin matures to an ascendant sagehood and engineers the birth of Arthur through magic and intrigue. Later, Merlin serves as the king's advisor until he is bewitched and imprisoned by the Lady of the Lake.)

Geoffrey's composite Merlin is based primarily on Myrddin Wyllt, also called Merlinus Caledonensis, and Aurelius Ambrosius, a mostly fictionalized version of the historical war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus. The former had nothing to do with Arthur and flourished after the Arthurian period. According to lore he was a bard driven mad after witnessing the horrors of war, who fled civilization to become a wildman of the woods in the 6th century. Geoffrey had this individual in mind when he wrote his earliest surviving work, the Prophetiae Merlini (Prophecies of Merlin), which he claimed were the actual words of the legendary madman. Medievalist Gaston Paris suggested he altered the name to "Merlinus" rather than the standard romanization "Merdinus" to avoid a resemblance to the vulgar French word merde, meaning "excrement".Geoffrey's Prophetiae do not reveal much about Merlin's background. When he included the prophet in his next work, Historia Regum Britanniae, he supplemented the characterization by attributing to him stories about Aurelius Ambrosius, taken from Nennius' Historia Brittonum. According to Nennius, Ambrosius was discovered when the British king Vortigern was trying to erect a tower. The tower always collapsed before completion, and his wise men told him the only solution was to sprinkle the foundation with the blood of a "child born without a father". Ambrosius was rumored to be such a child, but when brought before the king, he revealed the real reason for the tower's collapse: below the foundation was a lake containing two dragons who destroyed the tower by fighting. Geoffrey retells this story in Historia Regum Britanniæ with some embellishments, and gives the fatherless child the name of the prophetic bard, Merlin. He keeps this new figure separate from Aurelius Ambrosius, and to disguise his changing of Nennius, he simply states that Ambrosius was another name for Merlin. He goes on to add new episodes that tie Merlin into the story of King Arthur and his predecessors.Geoffrey dealt with Merlin again in his third work, Vita Merlini. He based the Vita on stories of the original 6th century Myrddin. Though set long after his timeframe for the life of "Merlin Ambrosius," he tries to assert the characters are the same with references to King Arthur and his death as told in the Historia Regum Britanniae.

Merlinus Caledonensis, or Myrddin Wyllt

The earliest (pre-12th century) Welsh poems concerning the Myrddin legend present him as a madman living a wretched existence in the Caledonian Forest, ruminating on his former existence and the disaster that brought him low: the death of his lord Gwenddoleu, whom he served as bard. The allusions in these poems serve to sketch out the events of the Battle of Arfderydd, where Riderch Hael, King of Alt Clut (Strathclyde) slaughtered the forces of Gwenddoleu, and Myrddin went mad watching this defeat. The Annales Cambriae date this battle to AD 573 and name Gwenddoleu's adversaries as the sons of Eliffer, presumably Gwrgi and Peredur.Some early references name the madman as "Lailoken"; this name especially used in the hagiography of Saint Kentigern. A version of this legend is preserved in a late 15th century manuscript, in a story called Lailoken and Kentigern. In this narrative, Kentigern meets in a deserted place with the naked, hairy madman Lailoken, also called Merlynum or "Merlin", who declares that he has been condemned for his sins to wander in the company of beasts. He adds that he had been the cause for the deaths of all of the persons killed in the battle fought "on the plain between Liddel and Carwannok." Having told his story, the madman leaps up and flees from the presence of the saint back into the wilderness. He appears several times more in the narrative until at last he asks Kentigern for the sacrament, prophesying that he was about to die a triple death. After some hesitation, the saint grants the madman's wish, and later that day the shepherds of King Meldred capture him, beat him with clubs, then cast him into the River Tweed where his body is pierced by a stake, thus fulfilling his prophecy.Welsh literature has many examples of a prophetic literature, predicting the military victory of all of the Brythonic peoples of Great Britain who will join together and drive the English – and later the Normans – back into the sea. Some of these works were claimed to be the prophecies of Myrddin; some were not, as for example the Armes Prydein. This wild prophetic Merlin was also treated by Geoffrey of Monmouth in his Vita Merlini which looks like a close adaptation of a number of Myrddin poems.Geoffrey's account of Merlin Ambrosius' early life in the Historia Regum Britanniae is based on the story of Ambrosius in the Historia Brittonum. He adds his own embellishments to the tale, which he sets in Carmarthen (Welsh: Caerfyrddin). While Nennius' Ambrosius eventually reveals himself to be the son of a Roman consul, Geoffrey's Merlin is begotten on a king's daughter by an incubus. The story of Vortigern's tower is essentially the same; the underground dragons, one white and one red, represent the Saxons and the British, and their final battle is a portent of things to come.At this point Geoffrey inserts a long section of Merlin's prophecies, taken from his earlier Prophetiae Merlini. He tells only two further tales of the character; in the first, Merlin creates Stonehenge as a burial place for Aurelius Ambrosius. In the second, Merlin's magic enables Uther Pendragon to enter into Tintagel in disguise and father his son Arthur on his enemy's wife, Igraine. These episodes appear in many later adaptations of Geoffrey's account.Several decades later the poet Robert de Boron retold this material in his poem Merlin. Only a few lines of the poem have survived, but a prose retelling became popular and was later incorporated into two other romances. In Robert's account Merlin is begotten by a devil on a virgin as an intended Antichrist. This plot is thwarted when the expectant mother informs her confessor Blaise of her predicament; they immediately baptize the boy at birth, thus freeing him from the power of Satan. The demonic legacy invests Merlin with a preternatural knowledge of the past and present, which is supplemented by God, who gives the boy a prophetic knowledge of the future.Robert de Boron lays great emphasis on Merlin's power to shapeshift, on his joking personality and on his connection to the Holy Grail. This text introduces Merlin's master Blaise, who is pictured as writing down Merlin's deeds, explaining how they came to be known and preserved. Robert was inspired by Wace's Roman de Brut, an Anglo-Norman adaptation of Geoffrey's Historia. Robert's poem was rewritten in prose in the 12th century as the Estoire de Merlin, also called the Vulgate or Prose Merlin. It was originally attached to a cycle of prose versions of Robert's poems, which tells the story of the Holy Grail; brought from the Middle East to Britain by followers of Joseph of Arimathea, and eventually recovered by Arthur's knight Percival. The Prose Merlin was detached from that shorter cycle to serve as a sort of prequel to the vast Lancelot-Grail, also known as the Vulgate Cycle. The authors of that work expanded it with the Vulgate Suite du Merlin (Vulgate Merlin Continuation), which described King Arthur's early adventures. The Prose Merlin was also used as a prequel to the later Post-Vulgate Cycle, the authors of which added their own continuation, the Huth Merlin or Post-Vulgate Suite du Merlin. These works were adapted and translated into several other languages; the Post-Vulgate Suite was the inspiration for the early parts of Sir Thomas Malory's English language Le Morte d'Arthur.Many later medieval works also deal with the Merlin legend. For example, The Prophecies of Merlin contains long prophecies of Merlin (mostly concerned with 13th century Italian politics), some by his ghost after his death. The prophecies are interspersed with episodes relating Merlin's deeds and with various Arthurian adventures in which Merlin does not appear at all. The earliest English verse romance concerning Merlin is Arthour and Merlin, which drew from chronicles and the French Lancelot-Grail.As the Arthurian mythos was retold and embellished, Merlin's prophetic aspects were sometimes de-emphasized in favor of portraying Merlin as a wizard and elder advisor to Arthur. On the other hand in Lancelot-Grail it is said that Merlin was never baptized and never did any good in his life, only evil. Medieval Arthurian tales abound in inconsistencies. In the Lancelot-Grail and later accounts Merlin's eventual downfall came from his lusting after a woman named Nimue (or Ninive, in some versions of the legend), one of the maidens serving the Lady of the Lake, who coaxed his magical secrets from him before turning her new powers against her master and trapping him in an enchanted prison (variously described as a cave, a large rock, an invisible tower, etc.) This is unfortunate for Arthur, who has lost his greatest counselor.http://www.geocities.com/branwaedd/merlini.html

The Book of Merlyn is an Arthurian fantasy book written by T. H. White. It is the conclusion of The Once and Future King, but it was published separately and

Plot summary

The book opens as King Arthur prepares himself for his final battle. Merlyn reappears to complete Arthur's education and discover the cause of wars. As he did in The Sword in the Stone, Merlyn again demonstrates ethics and politics to Arthur by transforming him into various animals.The last chapter of the book takes place only hours before the final battle between King Arthur and his son and nephew Mordred. Arthur does not want to fight after everything that he has learned from Merlyn. He makes a deal with Mordred to split England in half. Mordred accepts. During the making of this deal, a snake comes upon one of Mordred's soldiers. The soldier draws his sword. The opposing side, unaware of the snake, takes this as an act of betrayal. Arthur's troops attack Mordred's, and both Arthur and Mordred die in the battle that follows.Guenever joins a convent, and remains there till death. Lancelot becomes a hermit and dies a hermit. His last miracle was making the room that he died in smell like heaven.[edit] Concept & CreationWhite was inspired to write this book upon determining that the key theme of Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur is to find an "antidote for war". Rather than containing a distinct plot, this book reads more like a discourse on war and human nature.[1]Originally submitted for publication in 1941, due to wartime paper shortages, White was unable to convince his publisher to include The Book of Merlyn as part of the collected edition of The Once and Future King (which was first published in its entirety in 1958).[1] Perhaps this is also due to this book's philosophical and plot-light nature.He nevertheless managed to salvage parts of this rejected text. While revising The Sword in the Stone for the collected edition, he adapted scenes from The Book of Merlyn. The unfortunate consequence is that parts of The Book of Merlyn appear to be rehashing things White has already covered earlier in the collected version of The Once and Future King.[edit] Rediscovery & PublicationThe Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center of the University of Texas at Austin purchased the bulk of White's personal papers and manuscripts between 1967 and 1969. The original manuscript for The Book of Merlyn was discovered amongst this collection, and was prepared for publication by the University of Texas Press in 1977.References

Townsend Warner, Sylvia (1978). "The Story of the Book". in White T.H.. The Book of Merlyn. London: Fontana/Collins. ISBN 0-00-615725-4.This magical account of King Arthur's last night on earth spent weeks on the New York Times best-seller list following its publication in 1977. Even in addressing the profound issues of war and peace, The Book of Merlyn retains the life and sparkle for which White is known. The tale brings Arthur full circle, an ending, White wrote, that "will turn my completed epic into a perfect fruit, 'rounded off and bright and done.'"More details

The book of Merlyn: the unpublished conclusion to The once and future king

T.H. White's The Once and Future King is easily the most accessible Arthurian work of the 20th century. It appeals to audiences of all ages and to readers on many different levels. Its use of humor and anachronistic references help ground the reader in the subject matter in a way that no one before or since has accomplished.

The Once and Future King is an Arthurian fantasy novel written by T. H. White. It was first published in 1958 and is mostly a composite of earlier works.The title comes from the supposed inscription of the marker over King Arthur's grave: HIC IACET ARTORIVS REX QVONDAM REXQVE FVTVRVS — "Here lies Arthur, the once and future king."

The Once and Future King is a tetralogy consisting of four previously published works: The Sword in the Stone, The Queen of Air and Darkness, The Ill-Made Knight, and The Candle in the Wind.

T. H. White uses The Once and Future King as his own personal view of the ideal society. The book, most of which "takes place on the isle of Gramarye," chronicles the raising and education of King Arthur, his rule as a king, and the romance between his best knight Sir Lancelot and his Queen Guinevere (which he spells Guenever). It ends immediately before Arthur's final battle against his illegitimate soOne often quoted passage from the book is the story which the badger calls his "dissertation," a retelling of the Creation story from Genesis.Plot summary

The story starts in the last years of the rule of king Uther Pendragon.

The Sword in the Stone chronicles Arthur's raising by his foster father Sir Ector, his rivalry and friendship with his foster brother Kay, and his initial training by Merlyn, a wizard who lives through time backwards. Merlyn, knowing the boy's destiny, teaches Arthur (known as "Wart") what it means to be a good king by turning him into various kinds of animals: fish, hawk, ant, owl, goose, and badger. Each of the transformations is meant to teach Wart a lesson, which will prepare him for his future life.In fact, Merlyn instills in Arthur the concept that the only justifiable reason for war is to prevent another from going to war then, and that contemporary human governments and powerful people exemplify the worst aspects of the rule of Might.The Queen of Air and Darkness, White sets the stage for Arthur's demise by introducing the Orkney clan and detailing Arthur's seduction by their mother, his half-sister Morgause. While the young king suppresses initial rebellions, Merlyn leads him to envision a means of harnessing potentially destructive Might for the cause of Right: the Round Table. The Ill-Made Knight, shifts focus from King Arthur to the story of Sir Lancelot and Queen Guenever's forbidden love and its effect on Elaine, the mother of Lancelot's son, and the King.The Candle in the Wind unites these narrative threads by telling how Mordred's hatred of his father and Agravaine's hatred of Sir Lancelot caused the eventual downfall of King Arthur, Queen Guenever, Sir Lancelot, and the entire ideal kingdom of Camelot.n Mordred. Though White admits his book's source material is loosely derived from Sir Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (The Death of Arthur), he creates a personal reinterpretation of the epic events, filling them with renewed meaning for a world enduring the Second World War.

The book begins as a quite light-hearted account of the young Arthur's adventures, Merlyn's incompetence at magic, and King Pellinore's interminable search for the Questing Beast. Parts of The Sword in the Stone read almost as a parody of the traditional Arthurian legend by virtue of White's prose style, which relies heavily on anachronisms. However, the tale gradually becomes darker until Ill-Made Knight loses much of the original humor and The Candle in the Wind is mirthless.

In the first book, The Sword in the Stone

We see Arthur's education at the hands of Merlyn, a learned but frazzled character who is living backwards. (Thus, he already knows what's going to happen; he strives, therefore, to impart on his subject the importance of doing right.) Arthur is here called the Wart, a nickname given him by his foster brother, Kay, son of Sir Ector, lord of a castle in the Forest Sauvage. As a student of Merlyn, Wart encounters three different kinds of governments--feudalism in his daily life with Ector, totalitarianism in his time as an ant, and anarchy in his time as a goose. As always, Merlyn's point is that knowledge is power. One of the prime lessons of this education is that a goose (or any winged animal) can see beyond boundaries on land. In other words, a man's worth is not only based on how much land and property he has; also, a government is not nearly as important as its leader.

Wart's adventures continue with Merlyn and with Kay until the fateful day of the tourney, at which Wart pulls the Sword from the Stone.Arthur the King faces many troubles right away, including a strong claim from Lot, King of Orkney. His wife, Morgause, is the subject of the second book,

The Queen of Air and Darkness (originally The Witch in the Wood). The sons of Orkney, Gawain foremost among them, cause no end of trouble for Arthur and Lancelot throughout the last three books.

The Ill-Made Knight, the third book, is concerned mainly with Lancelot, who is portrayed by White as being amazingly ugly though competent in arms. Despite this ugliness (and probably because of this competence), Guinevere falls in love with him. The book ends with their at-long-last tryst.

In the last book, The Candle in the Wind, Arthur becomes the main character again. His past comes back to haunt him as Mordred arrives in Camelot. The bastard uses the Lancelot-Guinevere affair to his advantage in breaking apart the Round Table.

The book ends

with Arthur telling the story to a young man named Tom on the eve of the Battle of Camlann. Overall, the book has a different feel from other Arthurian tellings. These books have humor, chiefly in the form of Merlyn and of King Pellinore, whose efforts in hunting the Questing Beast and at fighting Sir Grummore Grummersom are shot through with gentle and broad humor.

Finally, there is the theme of war.

White, a pacifist, fills his hero, Arthur, with a war-weariness and a determination to do what is right: "Might for Right." From the very beginning, Arthur has to fight to keep what he has earned. He fends off challenges from Lot and from outsiders; he tries to keep his Round Table intact in the face of a serious challenge from Mordred and the sons of Orkney; he tries to keep his kingdom intact by fighting for his very life against Mordred and his growing number of allies.

He fights, fights, fights. His tone at the end of the fourth book, in the chat with young Tom, is one of acceptance of his fate. However, even weighed down by the knowledge of certain death, he finds the strength to encourage young Tom to survive the battle and tell the story.Now, since The Once and Future King ends on the eve of the Battle of Camlann, the book has no mention of what eventually happened to Arthur. T.H. White wrote The Book of Merlyn to tell that story. Left out of the set by the publishers, this book was published in its own right several years later. In it, Merlyn returns to Arthur and returns Arthur to happier days, when he visited the ants and geese and came face to face with the war-crazed ants and the happy-go-lucky geese. Buoyed by this return to the innocence of his youth, Arthur intends to ask Mordred for a truce.

But fate intervenes: Echoing Malory, White has a snake cause the fateful, final battle. We see the end of Arthur and of Lancelot and Guinevere. We see the end of an era. But we see the future, too, and it is filled with hope.This condemnation of the evils of war is a vast departure from the Welsh war songs that began the story of Arthur. As the 20th century winds down, we see many more departures from the common theme. Two of the greatest and most successful departures are written by Marion Zimmer Bradley and Mary Stewart.

Characterisation in the workPerhaps most striking about White's work is how he reinterprets the traditional Arthurian characters, often giving them motivations or traits more complex or even contradictory to those in earlier versions of the legend. For example:Arthur is a well-intentioned king as trained by Merlyn, but it seems that his greatest flaw is his inability to adapt once Merlyn leaves him: he comes off as well-meaning yet rather ineffectual Lancelot is no longer the handsome knight typical in the romantic legends but is instead portrayed as the ugliest of that lot. He is also a sadist, a trait he represses, but which leads to bouts of self-loathing. He seeks to overcome his flaws through full devotion towards becoming Arthur's greatest knight Merlyn lives through time backwards, making him a bumbling yet wise old man who is getting younger It is also interesting to note that White allows Thomas Malory to have a cameo appearance towards the end of the final book. Also of note is White's treatment of historical characters and kings as mythological within this world that he creates. In addition, due to his living backwards, Merlyn makes many anachronistic allusions to events in more recent times; of note are references to the Second World War, telegraphs, tanks, and "an Austrian who … plunged the civilized world into misery and chaos" (i.e. Hitler).Usage of Political IdealsUnderscoring the story of Arthur's life, from his youth and education to the end of his reign, is a well thought out commentary on how mankind should govern itself, written in the context of the Second World War. The political stand points are totalitarianism, communism, anarchy, and socialism.When Arthur first ascends to the throne, the country is ruled by what he calls Fort Mayne, or the rule of the strongest. The barons and nobles ride around the countryside doing whatever they wish--being unpleasant, exploitative, and sometimes murderous. Despite the ongoing question of whether humanity is naturally evil, through most of the book King Arthur is optimistic that there is a means to curb humanity's tendency toward violence and cruelty. The latter three parts of the book show the progression of his search for a solution. His first solution to the rule of power is to crush it with power ("Might is Right"). As a young king, he conquers rival barons in a war in which Arthur dispenses with gentlemanly protocols so as to force the barons to experience the horrors of war firsthand. However, this is clearly not a permanent solution, but merely perpetuates the problem.His next move is to channel power into something worthy. He reinvents Chivalry, and forms the Round Table, making it a goal for his knights to use their Might to rescue maidens and right wrongs ("Might for Right"). However, this solution does not last for long. Once all the wrongs are righted, and England settles into a golden period of peace and lawfulness, the knights grow bored, and things at court start to go badly. Pettiness and squabbling arise, and society stagnates. This is what Merlyn calls "Games-Mania": the knights become caught up in Jousting and Tourneys, to the point that vicious rivalries are established, especially the Orkney-Lancelot one. A better solution is needed.Arthur's next move is to seek the solution from outside the mundane world. He sends his knights on a quest for the Holy Grail — aiming their power toward God instead of toward worldly things ("Might for God"). This, however, is a failure, too, because any knight who achieves the quest is perfect, and thus no longer suitable to live in an imperfect world. The other knights who fail are for a time positively affected by the quest (Sir Lancelot in particular), but it does not take long for them to fall back into their old ways. In addition, many knights who fail the quest (Gawaine) feel humiliated by Lancelot and Galahad, and many good knights end up dying in the quest for the Grail.Arthur's final solution as king is to formalise power: he reinvents Civil Law ("Right is Right"). Instead of power being wielded by the knights, it now belongs to the state. An example of this would be the replacing of trial-by-battle with trial by jury. This solution comes back to bite Arthur when the affair between Guinevere and Launcelot is exposed: adhering to his new law means that he must punish his beloved wife and his best friend, by banishing Lancelot and burning Guinevere. However, he knows that Lancelot will rescue her, and Lancelot does indeed end up rescuing Guinevere and they escape to his castle together. However, in the process he unintentionally kills the unarmed Gaheris and Gareth.Almost everyone considered Gareth the "best" or most "knightly" of the Orkneys; he was knighted by Lancelot, and his brother Gawaine loved him. When Lancelot kills Gareth and Gaheris while they are unarmed during the rescue of Guinevere, not recognising them in his fury, Gawaine flies into a rage and Arthur into deep depression. Gawaine tells Arthur he has no choice but to go to war with Lancelot so Gawaine can extract vengeance.The book ends with Arthur, weary and aged, in his field pavilion on the eve of the final battle between his knights and Mordred's Thrashers. He reflects upon where he has gone wrong, and whether humans can ever learn to renounce violence. Before going forth, Arthur charges a young page (Malory) with keeping alive his legend and his ideals until a better day.This is where The Book of Merlyn fits in: Arthur is taken to Merlyn's cave, where he meets many of his old friends from The Sword in the Stone — animals with whom he has spent time. He then spends some time as an ant, and as a goose, experiencing the structure of their societies. The ant is a fiercely territorial animal, with a rigidly structured life. The goose, on the other hand, is free, without any boundaries or borders, flying where it wants. Arthur spends an idyllic few days as a goose, before he is dragged back to Merlyn's cave. He realises that boundaries, which don't actually exist, but are purely mental constructs in human minds, are the real cause of the strife in the world, and that humanity should do away with them if he wants to achieve a successful and peaceful society.Film, television and theatrical adaptationsWalt Disney made an adaptation of The Sword in the Stone in 1963. This movie reflects more the sense of humour of Disney's team of animators than White. The movie adds a more comical side to the original story, including song and dance, as in most Walt Disney films. Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's 1960 musical Camelot (which was made into a movie in 1967) is also based on The Once and Future King, and features White's idea of having Thomas Malory make a cameo appearance at the end. Warner Bros. has announced that they will be releasing a film adaption with Kenneth Lonergan directing. IMDB.com also lists the title "The Once and Future King (2008)," but refers to a story about an Australian farmer who could possibly be an heir to the throne of England.

"Who so Pulleth Out This Sword of this Stone and Anvil, is Rightwise King Born of All England."

Terence Hanbury White (29 May 1906–17 January 1964) was an English author best known for his sequence of Arthurian novels, The Once and Future King, first published together in 1958.Born 29 May 1906(1906-05-29)Bombay, India Died 17 January 1964 (aged 57)Piraeus, Athens Occupation Writer Genres Fantasy InfluencesThomas Malory, J. R. R. Tolkien[1] InfluencedGregory Maguire, Ed McBain, Michael Moorcock, J. K. RowlingWhite was born in Bombay, India, the son of Garrick Hansbury White, an Indian police superintendent, and Constance White.[2] Terence White had a discordant childhood, with an alcoholic father and an emotionally frigid mother, and his parents separated when Terence was fourteen.[3][4] White went to Cheltenham College, a public school, and Queens' College, Cambridge, where he was tutored by the scholar and occasional author L. J. Potts. Potts became a lifelong friend and correspondent, and White later referred to him as "the great literary influence in my life."[3] While at Queens' College, White wrote a thesis on Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur (without reading it),[5] and graduated in 1928 with a first-class degree in English.[2]White then taught at Stowe School, Buckinghamshire, for four years. In 1936 he published England Have My Bones, a well-received memoir about a year spent in England. The same year, he left Stowe and lived in a workman's cottage, where he wrote and "revert[ed] to a feral state", engaging in falconry, hunting, and fishing.[6][2] White also became interested in aviation, partly to conquer his fear of heights.[citation needed] White wrote to a friend that in autumn 1937, "I got desperate among my books and picked [Malory] up in lack of anything else. Then I was thrilled and astonished to find that (a) The thing was a perfect tragedy, with a beginning, a middle and an end implicit in the beginning and (b) the characters were real people with recognisable reactions which could be forecast[...] Anyway, I somehow started writing a book."[5] The novel, which White described as "a preface to Malory",[5] was titled The Sword in the Stone and told the story of the boyhood of King Arthur. White was also influenced by Freudian psychology and his lifelong involvement in natural history. The Sword in the Stone was well-reviewed and was a Book of the Month Club selection in 1939.[2]In February 1939, White moved to Doolistown, Ireland, where he lived out the international crisis and the Second World War itself as a de facto conscientious objector.[7] It was in Ireland that he wrote most of what would later become The Once and Future King; two sequels to The Sword and the Stone were published during this time: The Witch in the Wood (later retitled The Queen of Air and Darkness) in 1939, and The Ill-Made Knight in 1940. The version of The Sword in the Stone included in The Once and Future King differs in several respects from the earlier version. It is darker, and some critics prefer the earlier version. White's indirect experience of the war had a profound effect on these tales of King Arthur, which include commentaries on war and human nature in the form of a heroic narrative.In 1946, White settled in Alderney, one of the smaller Channel Islands, where he lived for the rest of his life.[6] The same year, White published Mistress Masham's Repose, a children's book in which a young girl discovers a group of Lilliputians (the tiny people in Swift's Gulliver's Travels) living near her house. In 1947, he published The Elephant and the Kangaroo, in which a repetition of Noah's Flood occurs in Ireland. In the early 1950s White published two non-fiction books: The Age of Scandal (1950), a collection of essays about 18th-century England, and The Goshawk (1951), an account of White's attempt to train a hawk in the traditional art of falconry. In 1954 White translated and edited The Book of Beasts, an English translation of a medieval bestiary originally written in Latin.In 1958 White completed the fourth book of The Once and Future King sequence, The Candle in the Wind, though it was first published with the other three parts and has never been published separately. The Broadway musical Camelot was based on The Once and Future King, as was the animated film The Sword in the Stone.He died on 17 January 1964 aboard ship in Piraeus, Greece (Athens, Greece) of a heart ailment, en route to Alderney from a lecture tour in the United States.[2]He is buried in First Cemetery of Athens. In 1977 The Book of Merlyn, a conclusion to The Once and Future King, was published posthumously.Personal lifeAccording to Sylvia Townsend Warner's biography, White was "a homosexual and a sado-masochist."[6] He came close to marrying several times but had no enduring romantic relationships, and wrote in his diaries that "It has been my hideous fate to be born with an infinite capacity for love and joy with no hope of using them."[6] White was also an agnostic,[8] and towards the end of his life a heavy drinker.[3][9]InfluenceScience-fiction writer Michael Moorcock enjoyed White's The Once and Future King, and was especially influenced by the underpinnings of realism in his work.[10] Moorcock eventually engaged in a "wonderful correspondence" with White, and later recalled that "White [gave] me some very good advice on how to write".[10][11] J. K. Rowling has said that T. H. White's writing strongly influenced the Harry Potter books; several critics have compared Rowling's character Albus Dumbledore to White's absent-minded Merlyn,[12][13] and Rowling herself has described White's Wart as "Harry's spiritual ancestor."[14] Gregory Maguire was influenced by "White's ability to be intellectually broadminded, to be comic, to be poetic, and to be fantastic" in the writing of his 1995 novel Wicked,[15] and crime fiction writer Ed McBain also cited White as an influence.[16]Selected bibliography

England Have My Bones (1936)

The Once and Future King /The Sword in the Stone (1938)

The Queen of Air and Darkness (1939, originally titled The Witch in the Wood)

Warner, Sylvia Townsend (1967). T. H. White: A Biography. New York: Viking.The Sword in the Stone is a novel by T. H. White, published in 1938, initially a stand-alone work but now the first part of a tetralogy The Once and Future King.

Walt Disney Productions adapted the story to an animated film, and the BBC adapted it to radio.

The novel is about a young boy named Wart who befriends a magician named Merlyn. As we suspect all along, but only find out for sure at the end, Wart is actually the future King Arthur. The title refers to a sword that was magically embedded in a stone so that only the future, true-born king of England would be able to remove it.The premise is that Arthur's youth, not dealt with in Malory, was a time when he was tutored by Merlyn to prepare him for the use of power and royal life. Merlyn magically turns Wart into various animals at times. He also has more human adventures, at one point meeting the outlaw Robin Hood, (who is referred to in the novel as Robin Wood). The setting is loosely based on medieval England, and in places it incorporates White's considerable knowledge of medieval culture (as in relation to hunting, falconry and jousting). However it makes no attempt at consistent historical accuracy, and incorporates some obvious anachronisms (aided by the concept that Merlyn lives backwards in time rather than forwards, unlike everyone else).The version appearing in 1959 in the tetralogy was substantially revised, partly to incorporate events and themes that White had originally intended to cover in a fifth volume (which was finally published after his death, as The Book of Merlyn). To this end, the revised version includes several new episodes, including a pacifist passage in which Arthur is transformed into a wild goose that flies so high as to not be able to perceive national boundaries. It leaves out some of the episodes that had appeared in the original (notably Merlyn's battle with Madam Mim which appeared in the Disney film). Many critics considered that the revised version was actually inferior to the original. Publishers tended to use the original version when it was published independently of the tetralogy; both versions are still in print.The reasons White made these revisions are open to speculation. The Sword in the Stone, although it includes some serious themes, is to some extent a rather whimsical fantasy of Merry England. Its connection with the classical Arthurian legend was actually rather limited, although what it did take from the Arthurian legend was accurate. It was awkward to treat this as the first part of a more serious treatment of the Arthurian legend. It is also possible that White felt in a darker mood after the Second World War. It has also been said that due to wartime censorship, the publishers did not want to print some of White's more strident Anti-War sentiments (which are very prevalent in "The Book of Merlyn"). White is an example, along with Jerome K. Jerome and Compton Mackenzie, of a serious writer who became best remembered for a comical work .Walt Disney Productions made an animated movie adaptation of The Sword in the Stone, first released on December 25, 1963 by Buena Vista Distribution. Like most Disney films, it is based on the general plot of the original story, but much of the substance of the story is considerably changed.A BBC radio adaptation in 1982 starred Michael Hordern as Merlyn. Hordern had already starred as another great literary wizard, Tolkien's Gandalf, in the BBC's 1981 radio adaptation of The Lord of the Rings.

Monday, 13 April 2009

This page contains a translation of the writings of Gerald of Wales (1146-1223) on the discovery of King Arthur's tomb and remains. Arthur was the national hero of the Welsh, who spent many centuries struggling against the incursion of England. In the early 1060s, Harold of Wessex (later King of England in 1066) became the first English ruler to subjugate Wales. The Welsh rose up periodically throughout the High Middle Ages, often raiding the Marches (the English territories on the Welsh border), even after Wales was officially incorporated into England in 1284 under King Edward I. King Arthur was a symbol of Welsh resistance to English oppression, for according to tradition Arthur had fought against invading Germanic tribes on behalf of the Romano-Celtic ancestors of the Welsh. Arthur, said to have been slain at the Battle of Camlann, was supposedly taken to the enchanted Isle of Avalon for the healing of his wounds, so that one day he could return and rally his countrymen to repel the English once and for all. The alleged discovery of Arthur's tomb, then, was propaganda that the English could use against the Welsh, proving to them definitively that their savior was permanently deceased and would never return to liberate them.Gerald's lifeGerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis in Latin) was born in Manorbier, in southern Wales, to an aristocratic family primarily of Anglo-Norman descent, but with some local Welsh blood as well. He spent his adult life as a cleric, and from his writings we learn that he had a passion for ecclesiastical reform that was matched only by his passion for personal advancement in Church offices. Ultimately he grew bitter that he was never promoted as far as he would have liked, which he believed was the result of prejudice against his Welsh heritage.Gerald's writing on the discovery of Arthur's tombGerald was a prolific writer throughout his career. Today he is best known for his historical and ethnographic writings, in works such as Topographia Hibernica (The Topography of Ireland), Expugnatio Hibernica (The Conquest of Ireland), and Descriptio Kambriae (The Description of Wales). In two of his lesser-known works we find his accounts of the discovery of King Arthur's tomb. A brief description of each is given below:On the Instruction of Princes -- This work exists in only one manuscript, Cotton MS Julius B. xiii. Although it is chiefly a didactic treatise about the virtues required in a good prince, it is also a vehicle for political commentary; for instance, Gerald uses the work to criticize King Henry II and his sons, an indication of his growing hostility toward the English kings.

1 Mirror of the Church -- This text also exists in one manuscript, the highly damaged Cotton MS Tiberius B. xiii. Here Gerald rails against the excesses of monasteries: ambition, wealth, departure from the observance of their rules, etc.

2 Essentially, in this work Gerald "scathe[s] with no sparing hand the monastic degeneracy of his times."

3 A note on the translations by John William SuttonBrackets in the translation represent my own editorial interjections. I use parentheses to help render some of Gerald's complicated Latin syntax into readable English.

The Discovery of the Tomb of King ArthurfromLiber de Principis Instructione[On the Instruction of Princes]

The memory of Arthur, the celebrated king of the Britons, should not be concealed. In his age, he was a distinguished patron, generous donor, and a splendid supporter of the renowned monastery of Glastonbury; they praise him greatly in their annals. Indeed, more than all other churches of his realm he prized the Glastonbury church of Holy Mary, mother of God, and sponsored it with greater devotion by far than he did for the rest. When that man went forth for war, depicted on the inside part of his shield was the image of the Blessed Virgin, so that he would always have her before his eyes in battle, and whenever he found himself in a dangerous encounter he was accustomed to kiss her feet with the greatest devotion. Although legends had fabricated something fantastical about his demise (that he had not suffered death, and was conveyed, as if by a spirit, to a distant place), his body was discovered at Glastonbury, in our own times, hidden very deep in the earth in an oak-hollow, between two stone pyramids that were erected long ago in that holy place. The tomb was sealed up with astonishing tokens, like some sort of miracle. The body was then conveyed into the church with honor, and properly committed to a marble tomb. A lead cross was placed under the stone, not above as is usual in our times, but instead fastened to the underside. I have seen this cross, and have traced the engraved letters -- not visible and facing outward, but rather turned inwardly toward the stone. It read: "Here lies entombed King Arthur, with Guenevere his second wife, on the Isle of Avalon." Many remarkable things come to mind regarding this. For instance, he had two wives, of whom the last was buried with him. Her bones were discovered with her husband's, though separated in such a way that two-thirds of the sepulcher, namely the part nearer the top, was believed to contain the bones of the husband, and then one-third, toward the bottom, separately contained the bones of his wife -- wherein was also discovered a yellow lock of feminine hair, entirely intact and pristine in color, which a certain monk eagerly seized in hand and lifted out; immediately the whole thing crumbled to dust. Indeed, there had been some evidence from the records that the body might be found there, and some from the lettering carved on the pyramids (although that was mostly obliterated by excessive antiquity), and also some that came from the visions and revelations made by good men and the devout. But the clearest evidence came when King Henry II of England explained the whole matter to the monks (as he had heard it from an aged British poet): how they would find the body deep down, namely more than 16 feet into the earth, and not in a stone tomb but in an oak-hollow. The body had been placed so deep, and was so well concealed, that it could not be found by the Saxons who conquered the island after the king's death -- those whom he had battled with so much exertion while he was alive, and whom he had nearly annihilated. And so because of this the lettering on the cross -- the confirmation of the truth -- had been inscribed on the reverse side, turned toward the stone, so that it would conceal the tomb at that time and yet at some moment or occasion could ultimately divulge what it contained. What is now called Glastonbury was, in antiquity, called the Isle of Avalon; it is like an island because it is entirely hemmed in by swamps. In British4 it is called Inis Avallon, that is, insula pomifera [Latin: "The Island of Apples"5]. This is because the apple, which is called aval in the British tongue, was once abundant in that place. Morgan, a noble matron, mistress and patroness of those regions, and also King Arthur's kinswoman by blood, brought Arthur to the island now called Glastonbury for the healing of his wounds after the Battle of Camlann. Moreover, the island had once been called in British Inis Gutrin, that is, insula vitrea [Latin: "The Island of Glass"]; from this name, the invading Saxons afterwards called this place Glastingeburi, for glas in their language means vitrum [Latin: "glass"], and buri stands for castrum [Latin: "castle"] or civitas [Latin: "city"]. It should be noted also that the bones of Arthur's body that they discovered were so large that the poet's verse seems to ring true: "Bones excavated from tombs are reckoned enormous."6 Indeed, his shin-bone, which the abbot showed to us, was placed near the shin of the tallest man of the region; then it was fixed to the ground against the man's foot, and it extended substantially more than three inches above his knee. And the skull was broad and huge, as if he were a monster or prodigy, to the extent that the space between the eyebrows and the eye-sockets amply encompassed the breadth of one's palm. Moreover, ten or more wounds were visible on that skull, all of which had healed into scars except one, greater than the rest, which had made a large cleft -- this seems to have been the lethal one.

The Discovery of the Tomb of King Arthur from Speculum Ecclesiae[Mirror of the Church]

Cap. VIII.Regarding the monk who, at the discovery of the tomb of Arthur, pulled out a lock of women's hair with his hand, and quite shamelessly accelerated its ruin.Furthermore, in our times, while Henry II was ruling England, the tomb of the renowned Arthur was searched for meticulously in Glastonbury Abbey; this was done at the instruction of the king and under the supervision of the abbot of that place, Henry, who was later transferred to Worcester Cathedral. With much effort the tomb was excavated in the holy burial-ground that had been dedicated by Saint Dunstan; it was found between two tall, emblazoned pyramids, erected long ago in memory of Arthur. Though his body and bones had been reduced to dust, they were conveyed from below into the air, and to a more dignified place. A lock of female hair -- blond and beautiful, twisted and braided with astonishing skill -- was discovered in the same tomb, evidently from Arthur's wife, who was buried in the same place as her husband.7 [Standing among the crowd is a monk who sees the lock of hair.] So that he could seize the lock before all others, he hurled himself headlong into the lowest depths of the cavity. Then the aforementioned monk, that insolent spectator, no less impudent than imprudent, descended into the depths -- the depths symbolize the infernal realm, which cannot be sated. Thus the monk thought to pull it out with his hand, to take hold of the lock of hair before all others -- evidence of his shameless mind, for women's hair entangles the weak-willed, while strong souls avoid it. Hair, of course, is said to be incorruptible, for it has no flesh in it, nor any moisture mixed with it. Nevertheless, as he held it in his hand, having raised it up in order to inspect it (many watched intently and in amazement), it crumbled into the thinnest dust; miraculously it disintegrated, as if reduced to granules. [There are a few words missing here.] For it demonstrated that all things are transitory, and all worldly beauty is for our vain eyes to gaze upon, for performing illicit sensual acts, or for our moments that are susceptible to vanity -- indeed, as the philosopher said, "the spendor of beauty is swift, passing, changeable, and more fleeting than the flowers of spring."8Cap. IX.Regarding the bones lying intact in the tomb of King Arthur, discovered at Glastonbury in our times, and about the many things relating to these remarkable circumstances.Furthermore, tales are regularly reported and fabricated about King Arthur and his uncertain end, with the British peoples even now contending foolishly that he is still alive. True and accurate information has been sought out, so the legends have finally been extinguished; the truth about this matter should be revealed plainly, so here I have endeavored to add something to the indisputable facts that have been disclosed. After the Battle of Camlann . . . [A number of words are missing.] And so, after Arthur had been mortally wounded there, his body was taken to the Isle of Avalon, which is now called Glastonbury, by a noble matron and kinswoman named Morgan; afterwards the remains were buried, according to her direction, in the holy burial-ground. As a result of this, the Britons and their poets have been concocting legends that a certain fantastic goddess, also called Morgan, carried off the body of Arthur to the Isle of Avalon for the healing of his wounds. When his wounds have healed, the strong and powerful king will return to rule the Britons (or so the Britons suppose), as he did before. Thus they still await him, just as the Jews, deceived by even greater stupidity, misfortune, and faithlessness, likewise await their Messiah. It is significant . . . [Two sentences or so are highly damaged.] Truly it is called Avalon, either from the British word aval9 , which means pomum [Latin: "apple"10], because apples and apple trees abound in that place; or, from the name Vallo, once the ruler of of that territory.11 Likewise, long ago the place was usually called in British Inis Gutrin, that is, insula vitrea [Latin: "The Island of Glass"], evidently on account of the river, most like glass in color, that flows around the marshes. Because of this, it was later called Glastonia in the language of the Saxons who seized this land, since glas in English or in Saxon means vitrum [Latin: "glass"]. It is clear from this, therefore, why it was called an island, why it was called Avalon, and why it was called Glastonia; it is also clear how the fantastic goddess Morgan was contrived by poets. It is also notable that . . . [Several words are missing, obscuring the meaning of the first part of the sentence.] from the letters inscribed on it, yet nearly all, however, was destroyed by antiquity. The abbot had the best evidence from the aforementioned King Henry, for the king had said many times, as he had heard from the historical tales of the Britons and from their poets, that Arthur was buried between two pyramids that were erected in the holy burial-ground. These were very deep, on account of the Saxons (whom he had subdued often and expelled from the Island of Britain, and whom his evil nephew Mordred had later called back against him), who endeavored to occupy the whole island again after his death; so their fear was that Saxons might despoil him in death through the wickedness of their vengeful spirit. A broad stone was unearthed during the excavating at the tomb, about seven feet . . . [A couple of words are missing.] a lead cross was fastened -- not to the outer part of the stone, but rather to the underside (no doubt as a result of their fears about the Saxons). It had these words inscribed on it: "Here lies entombed King Arthur, on the Isle of Avalon, with Guenevere his second wife." Now when they had extracted this cross from the stone, the aforementioned Abbot Henry showed it to me; I examined it, and read the words. The cross was fastened to the underside the stone, and, moreover, the engraved part of the cross was turned toward the stone, so that it would be better concealed. Remarkable indeed was the industry and exquisite prudence of the men of that era, who, by all their exertions, wished to hide forever the body of so great a man, their lord, and the patron of that region, from the danger of sudden disturbance. Moreover, they took care that -- at some time in the future when their tribulations had ceased -- the evidence of the letters inscribed on the cross could be made public.Cap. X.The renowned King Arthur was a patron of Glastonbury Abbey. [Enough words are missing that the rest of this chapter heading is indecipherable.][The beginning of the sentence is lost.] . . . had proposed, thus Arthur's body was discovered not in a marble tomb, not cut from rock or Parian stone, as was fitting for so distinguished a king, but rather in wood, in oak that was hollowed out for this purpose, and 16 feet or more deep in the earth; this was certainly on account of haste rather than proper ceremony for the burial of so great a prince, driven as they were by a time of urgent distress. When the body was discovered according to the directions indicated by King Henry, the aforementioned abbot had an extraordinary marble tomb made for the remains, as was fitting for an excellent patron of that place, for indeed, he had prized that church more than all the rest in his kingdom, and had enriched it with large and numerous lands. And for that reason it was not undeserved, but just and by the judgment of God, who rewards all good deeds not only in heaven, but also on earth and in this life. [The end is very defective.] . . . and the authentic body of Arthur . . . to be buried properly . . .

Footnotes1 Warner, pp. x-xi.2 Brewer, p. xiv.3 Brewer, p. viii.Liber de Principis Instructione4 By "British" he means a very early form of Welsh. This was the native language of the Romanized Celtic peoples who inhabited the island before the coming of the Germanic tribes; these Celtic peoples were displaced and driven west into what is now called Wales.5 The Latin words pomum ("fruit") and pomifer ("fruit-bearing") refer to fruit in general, but here they are translating the Welsh word that specifically means "apple."6 Thorpe, p. 283 (n. 637), notes that this line is from Virgil's Georgics, I.497.Speculum Ecclesiae7 There is only one manuscript for this text (Cotton MS Tiberius B. xiii, on which Brewer's edition is based), and it is very defective; consequently, some words and even some entire sentences are lost. I have attempted to give a sense of what is missing, using brackets for my textual commentary; parentheses, again, are reserved for sorting out some of Gerald's convoluted Latin syntax.8 This quotation has not been identified.9 By "British" he means a very early form of Welsh. This was the native language of the Romanized Celtic peoples who inhabited the island before the coming of the Germanic tribes; these Celtic peoples were displaced and driven west into what is now called Wales.10 The Latin words pomum ("fruit") and pomifer ("fruit-bearing") refer to fruit in general, but here they are translating the Welsh word that specifically means "apple."11 Thorpe, p. 286 (n. 649), writes that "[n]othing is known of this Vallo, although folklorists have taken him up."

Sunday, 12 April 2009

In the case of Arthur's authenticity it can only be a relative concept. There is not much historical truth to rely on and we have little knowledge of the development of the Arthurian legend in the early stages. Criticising Arthurian films as portraits of a certain era in history seems rather useless, because over the centuries the legend has proven it is a timeless story, applicable and adaptable to every age. Over time it has been used and enjoyed by many people, pagans as well as christians, conservatives as well as hippies, and it has been subject to both low and hight art. Therefore it is hardly surprising that the legend does not contain one single message, but many being both incredibly rich and versatile.There are on the other hand some elements in the Arturian tradition that can not be pushed aside if one wants to (re)tell the main story (and not use the Arthurian court merely as background for a new or other hero). The adultery between Lancelot and Guinevere for instance can hardly be denied. I have tried to analyse the way popular movies deal with the Arthurian tradition.

Arthur and his knights riding back to Camelot (from Lancelot du Lac, French, early fourteenth century)Introduction: King Arthur's longevityThe real Arthur, if there ever was such a person, was definitely not a king. That is just about the only indisputable fact about the historical Arthur scholars can agree on. Some early sources speak of him as a warlord. There is not much else, no truth to rely on. But there are a lot of people who like to believe in him as historical figure, and there are others who will tell you he is just a legend. The historical Arthur, or the illusion of historical truth has been an important characteristic of the Arthurian legends through the ages. In other words: if there had not been so many believers, the legends would not be as impressive as they are now. Nowadays it is still quite interesting for writers to play with the historical illusion; the name king Arthur has an authentic ring to it.The fact that we know so little about Arthur and the dark ages he came from is one of the reasons why, after fifteen centuries of changes to and repetitions of the story, he is still alive and well in our popular and even more serious culture.King Arthur and king Ban plan a tournament as queen Guinevere and courtiers watchca 1300Bibliothèque Nationale, fr. 95, f. 291

There is not just one true version of the legend either, because we know very little of the origins of the myth. The story was part of the oral Celtic tradition, must have been told and retold before it was written down and most of these early versions have perished in time. The Round Table was not mentioned until the 12th century, by Wace, who also gave Arthur's sword the name Excalibur. And a couple of decades later Crétien de Troyes introduced Lancelot as Queen Guinevere's lover and Perceval as the grail hero. In later chronicles Perceval is surpassed by the perfect knight Galahad.That is another reason for Arthur's longevity: his court is always open to new heroes and the ideal background for new story-lines. Like Lancelot, Perceval and Galahad, Merlin and Tristan were also drawn to his court at different times in the Middle Ages. An example of a modern hero that joins the Camelot court is Prince Valiant, the main character of Hal Foster's cartoons, published in several American Sunday papers from 1937 to 1971.

As far as the medieval Arthurian stories (from the 12th until the 15th century) is concerned, one can make a rough distinction between two types: The first one is the episodic novel in verse, in which the hero often starts his quest from Arthur's court and returns there after his mission is completed, which usually does not take more than two years. Chrétien de Troyes poems have been imitated widely in medieval Europe, but have never been surpassed, partly because the imitators lacked his subtle use of irony and mystification. In his courtly vision the love between Lancelot and Guinevere was not yet burdened with guilt and the Grail was not yet the cup of Christ.The second type is the chronicle in prose, in which the rise and fall of the kingdom is depicted. This is where the celebration of courtly love is overruled by Christian ethics. The story does not evolve around one or two heroes, but is a mixture of many different story-lines, all tied together, not unlike modern soap operas. There is however one difference, the Arthurian chronicles actually have a point to them; the events lead up to the death of Arthur and the decay of civilisation, triggered by sins like adultery and incest(Adam and Eve). We are left with some hope though: Arthur is carried away to the isle of Avalon and rumour has it that he will return.

The most important Arthurian chronicle of the thirteenth century is the Lancelot en Prose, also called the Vulgate Cycle. Supernatural phenomena are present in both the poems, in which the fantasy of the old Celtic fairy-tales is still recognisable, and the chronicles, in which the wondrous world has a more Christian connotation. The last of the medieval Arthurian writers is Thomas Malory, whose Morte D' Artur seems like one big rèsume of all the previous writings about king Arthur and his knights. His work is usually the starting point for modern Anglo-Saxon versions of the legend.

In many different versions of the legend Lancelot crosses the swordbridge in pursuit of Guinevere who is abducted by an evil knight, Meleagrant. In Chrétiens Chevalier de la Charette it shows how far he is willing to go in the name of love. In the Vulgate Cycle it is embedded in many other adventures and Lancelots love of Guinevere is tainted with guilt.Malory mentions the abduction in his Morte Dartur, but not the swordbridge, either because he was in a hurry to tell the story and left out lots of details or because he thought crossing a bridge as sharp as a razorblade was just too improbable. The abduction of the queen is still part of the action in several modern versions of the legend, with a little imagination one can even detect a faint echo of the swordbridge story in the movie First Knight.Galeholt watches the lovers (Lancelot and Guinevere) first kiss as the seneschal and ladies converse.ca 1315, Pierpont Morgan Library 805, f.

Chrétien de Troyes (While reading the summaries below keep in mind that the original stories were written in Old French and in verse)

Chevalier de la Charette (Knight of the Cart)"Meleagant seizes Queen Guinevere and takes her to Gorre, his fathers country. Kay attempts to save her, but fails miserably. Gawain sets out for the rescue. On the way he meets a nameless knight who is very eager to retrieve the Queen. A dwarf invites both knights to ride a cart (a very shameful thing in those days) in order to reach their goal, and where Gawain refuses, the nameless knights only hesitates for a few seconds before he mounts the cart.Gawain and the nameless knight part at a crossroad. Gawain will try to reach Gorre through the underwaterbridge, the other knight heads for the swordbridge. After a lot of delays the knight reaches the swordbridge and crosses it although it is sharp as a razor.The knight arrives in Gorre and agrees to fight Meleagant. Queen Guinevere recognises him as Lancelot. When he is about to win the duel, it is postponed. Afterwards the queen treats him as if he has failed her. Lancelot has no idea what he has done wrong. With an aching heart he rides on to find Gawain, but is attacked by Meleagants men.Only after rumour has it that Lancelot is dead, Guinevere is sorry about giving him the cool treatment. She forgives him the short hesitation before mounting the cart, which was the reason for her animosity. When Lancelot turns up again, the lovers enjoy a passionate night together.Meleagant accuses the queen of adultery with Kaye, but it is Lancelot who defends her honour. Again the duel is stopped when Lancelot has the upper hand. They agree to fight again in one years time at king Arthurs court.Treacherous Meleagant tricks Lancelot into a tower from which there is no escape." (Chrétien left the story unfinished at this point, but it was continued by Godefroi de Leigni). "Lancelot escapes from the tower and reaches king Arthurs court just in time for the duel. He finally defeats Meleagant."In Chrétiens stories (written between 1170 and 1190) there is always a tension between "amour" and "chevalerie". In Erec et Enide the hero Erec gets preoccupied by his love for Enide to such an extent he forgets his knightly duties. In the end it is Enide who helps him to get his act together.In Chevalier au Lion it is the other way around. Yvain is so busy to be a good knight that he forgets his lady Laudine. When she denies him her love because of that, Yvain goes mad. He has to do a lot of good deeds to be worthy of his ladies pardon.Chevalier de la Charette the "amour" is dominant. During the course of the adventure Lancelot frees a lot of prisoners, but it is just a side-effect. His main objective is Guinevere, his love for her is perfect, and it has to be, even a few seconds of doubt are reprehensible.It is doubtful wether Chrétien agreed with this ideal of courtly love. He was obligated to reflect the ideas of his maecenas, in this case Marie de Champagne. The humorous undertone in his writing might have been his way to put the extremeties of the court into perspective.In his last poem Chrétien introduces another element: spirituality. There are two heroes: Gawain whose adventure is more or less "traditional", and Perceval:Conte du Graal"Perceval grows up in the woods, because his mother does not want him to die on the battlefield like his older brothers. But when he meets a couple of knights in the forest, he decides to be a knight himself. As a very naive and ignorant boy he sets out to find king Arthurs court.During the course of his adventures his noble descent becomes apparent. Perceval does heroic deeds and falls in love, but the perfect balance between "amour" and "chevalerie" does not mark the end of his path. He is destined for higher purposes and arrives at the castle of the Fisher King. The castle is surrounded by a waste-land and the Fisher King is wounded in the lower part of the body.Perceval witnesses a procession in which a girl carries a radiating grail. He fails to ask about the grail and thus fails to heal the Fisher King. His failure is connected with an earlier sin against his mother. It is clear that Perceval has to do penance and find the way to God before he can be worthy."Chrétien left this story unfinished as well, the grail still a mystery. And his contemporaries were probably just as keen to know what ending he had in mind as we are nowadays. Four different continuations were written in the beginning of the thirteenth century, and the grail was soon to be associated with the cup of Christ in the chronicles such as the Vulgate Cycle.Vulgate Cycle

While reading the summaries, do not forget the original story is an immense and chaotic tangle of narrative threads, written in Old French. The writers wrote the story as a chronicle, as factual history, which of course it is not. The technique of waving narrative threads together, often called "entrelacement", also gave the reader the illusion of reality.The Lancelot en Prose is a comprehensive trilogy (Lancelot Propre, La Queste del Saint Graal and La Mort de Roi Artu), which was written between 1215 and 1230. It was copied often, by hand, a real monk's work (but by that time the secular prductions were mostly done by craftsmen in proffesional workshops). In most manuscripts the Lancelot trilogy was preceded by two other stories: L'Estoire del Saint Graal and Merlin. This compilation is often called the Vulgate Cycle: L'Estoire del Saint Graal:"About the descendants of Joseph of Arimathea, who take the Holy Grail (the cup of Christ) with them to Britain, where they build the Grail-castle, in which the long line of Fisher Kings will live, as the keepers of the Grail."Vulgate Merlin:" The devil's son Merlin (but his mother is a true Christian and therefore the child is not evil) is Uther Pendragon's confidant and advises the construction of a Round Table. One seat at the table, the Perilous Seat, is meant for a chosen knight, and until this knight arrives nobody is to be seated there, for this person will surely die.Uther develops a raging passion for Ygraine, the wife of the Duke of Gorlois. With the aid of Merlin's magic Uther makes love to Ygraine and thus Arthur is conceived. The child grows up as stepbrother to Kay. His descent remains a secret until Arthur is the only one capable of drawing the sword from the stone. He is crowned king and has to fight a lot of battles against the Saxons and rebellious vassals. Merlin's advice and magic are on his side.Arthur marries Guinevere and her father gives him the Round Table as a marriage-gift. Merlin falls in love with the fairy Niniane and teaches her all his magic. But when she is fully-qualified, she locks him up in a tower from which there is no escape."Lancelot Propre:" Niniane raises the infant Lancelot in her realm beneath a lake, that is why his name is Lancelot du Lac (Lancelot of the Lake). As a young man he receives knighthood at king Arthur's court and falls in love with Guinevere the moment he sees her. He rides out, has adventures and meets his best friend Galehout, who initiates the first rendezvous between Lancelot an Guinevere." During one of his adventures Lancelot is captured by the fairy Morgan, Arthur's half-sister. Several knights of the Round Table undertake quests to find him, but to no avail. Galehout is convinced his friend is dead and dies from sorrow. Morgan's magic can not extinguish Lancelot's love for Guinevere. When she understands it is no use, she lets him go.Meanwhile Guinevere has been captured by Meleagant and Lancelot sets out to find her. (This is an adaptation of Chrétien's Conte du Graal with a couple of alterations: Lancelot is naturally no longer the "Fair Unknown", the nameless knight; and the lovers passion is no longer a celebration of courtly love, but burdened with guilt). "Lancelot's mission is accomplished.The knights of the Round Table are regularly on the road, often just to find each other. Lancelot roams the country. Once again he becomes Morgan's prisoner and this time he is locked up for more than two years. To kill the time he paints murals, in which he depicts his love story with Guinevere. One day he sees a rose in the garden which is more beautiful than all the other roses and therefore reminds him of his lady and gives him the strength to break the bars of his prison and escape. He is just in time to join the expedition to Europe that king Arthur undertakes to beat the Romans."La Queste del Saint Graal:"During the feast of Whitsun Galahad comes to the court, sits in the Perilous Seat and proves he will be the best knight of all times by drawing a sword from a stone. That night the Holy Grail appears before the court, to disappear as quickly as it came. Gawain swears to reveal the secret of the Grail and the all the knights of the Round Table follow his example.Soon it becomes clear that the Grail is not their destiny. The knights wander through the country, but the only adventures they have, are duels with each other, because they do not recognise each other before it is too late.Lancelot comes close to the Grail, but he is not the one because of his adulterous sins. Only Perceval, Bors and Galahad are admitted to the Grail service for which Christ appears. In the end Galahad is the only one who is initiated in the secrets of the Holy Grail. He dies in ecstasy. Bors is the only one to return and tell the tale, because Perceval dies as well."La Mort le Roi Artu:"At court Lancelot and Guinevere are subject to a lot of gossip. Arthur ignores the accusations until Morgan shows him the murals Lancelot made during his imprisonment. Guinevere is convicted to burn at the stake, but is saved just in time by Lancelot. In the process he kills Gawain's three brothers.Arthur's army besieges Lancelot at his castle, but when they are facing each other directly Lancelot refuses to defend himself. Arthur is touched. After months of war the pope acts as a mediator and both sides agree to a compromise. Guinevere is restored to favour and Lancelot withdraws himself to France.Gawain however is still after revenge for the death of his brothers and Arthur leads his troops to France. Lancelot defeats Gawain in a duel, and the latter will eventually die from his wounds.Meanwhile in Britain Mordred (at the end of Lancelot Propre it turned out that he was not Gawain's youngest brother but the child of Arthur and his halfsister Morgan) has pronounced himself king and besieges Guinevere, who has fled to London.The armies of Arthur and Mordred slaughter each other at Salisbury. Arthur kills Mordred but is mortally wounded himself. He orders Excalibur to be thrown into the lake. A hand rises up from the water to receive the sword. Morgan arrives by ship to take Arthur to Avalon.Lancelot avenges Arthur on Mordred's sons. As a recluse Lancelot finally finds himself at peace with God."TheVulgate Cycle would be one of the sources for Malory's Morte Dartur.Thomas Malory

The popularity of the Arthurian stories faded slowly in the fourteenth century, but it was not until the end of the fifteenth century that the English knight Thomas Malory wrote his magnum opus: Morte D' Artur.Malory was not an innovator like Chrétien or the authors of the Lancelot en Prose (which was Malory's main source, but certainly not the only one). His work is one big recapitulation of the medieval stories concerning king Arthur.Malory paid no heed to pictorial details and tedious descriptions, he was in it for the action. At times his work reads like a long and hyperactive enumeration of battles, tournaments and duels.The Morte D' Artur can be divided in three parts:The first part deals with Arthur who draws the sword from the stone, becomes king, establishes the Round Table and fights the Romans in France, and with the deeds of the knights of the Round Table, especially Lancelot and Gareth. Merlins part in the events is minimised.Part two deals mainly with the adventures of Tristan, also a character from the Celtic tradition. In the verse romances of the twelfth century he makes name as the perfect lover of Isolde (Ysolt, Yseut, Isoude). In the Tristan en Prose (ca. 1230) he appears at king Arthur's court for the first time and this was Malory's main source. Malory concentrates on Tristan's deeds as a knight, rather than the sad and passionate story of the lovers.In part three the Grail quest with Galahad as the hero is quickly told. And then it is time for Malory's best work: the treachery at the court, the adultery of Lancelot and Guinevere and the last battle in which Arthur and Mordred kill each other. Especially touching is the ending (which can not be found in the Lancelot en Prose), when Lancelot and Guinevere meet for one last time after Arthur's death. He wants to ask her to marry him, but she has devoted her life to God, and inspires him to do the same.

Pre-Raphaelite images of the middle ages

The poet Tennyson and the artists of the Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood in the 19th century were depending heavily on Malory for their Arthurian inspiration. The death of Arthur and his passing to Avalon, the flawless grail-knight Galahad, mysterious ladies and the attainment of the Holy Grail were amongst the favourite subjects of the Pre-Raphaelites. (See: La Mort D'Arthur, Archer (1860); The last sleep of Arthur in Avalon, Burne-Jones (1881-91); The Attainment of the Holy Grail, Burne Jones, Stanmore Hall tapestry executed by William Morris & Co. 1898-9; Galahad, Watts (1860); "I am half sick of shadows" said the lady of Shalott, Waterhouse (1860); Sanc Grael, Rossetti (1864).Tennyson idealised king Arthur as the perfect king and husband and put Guinevere on trial for her fling with Lancelot. Where Tennyson judged with reason on Arthur's side, the Pre-Raphaelites on the other hand seemed to admire Guinevere for her enigmatic qualities.One of the moving spirits behind the brotherhood, William Morris, wrote a poem The Defence of Guenevere and painted her as the typical Pre-Raphaelite woman: sensual beauties with long, dark, waving hair and melancholy eyes. The model for this Guinevere was his wife Jane Morris. Juicy detail is that William had to endure his wife's adultery with his friend and Pre-Raphaelite brother, the painter and poet Dante Gabriel Rossetti, for years to come. An Arthurian love triangle in real life.

James Archer, La Mort D'Arthur, oil painting 1850

In 1862 William Morris got the commission for the stained glass windows for Harden Grange. He choose to depict the Tristan story (based on Malory), but with the emphasis on the love story rather than Tristans many achievements as a knight. In this case the sympathy goes entirely to the lovers Tristan and Isolde. The deceived husband, king Mark, is the bad guy. William asked several Pre-Raphaelite brothers to design the panels, amongst them Date Gabriel Rossetti. (Images of the Tristan stained glass windows).The influence of 19th century Pre-Raphaelite art on popular movies was not that big until two decades ago. Hollywood adventure movies, especially in the first half of this century, were mostly inspired by late 19th century pulp narratives and simplified adaptations of the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott and his successors.The rise of Fantasy as a filmgenre in the late seventies and eighties brought the need for coherent secondary worlds, and that is exactly how the Pre-Raphaelites depicted the Middle Ages, as an idealised romantic time, a coherent world of fantasy. It is hard for me to say how far this influence goes in general, but the Pre-Raphaelite connection is certainly visible in John Boorman's Excalibur (1981).And the ideal Pre-Raphaelite woman seems to have a lot of features in common with the standard type of medieval queens, princesses and maidens in popular films. Whether it is Guinevere Excalibur, Lady Marian in Robin Hood (Reynolds, 1991), Linet in Sword of the Valiant (Weeks, 1982) or Guinevere in First Knight (Zucker, 1995) they all look like Jane Morris: sensual, enigmatic, long dark hair and melancholy eyes.

Julia Ormond as Guinevere in First Knight

William Morris, Queen Guinevere

(also called La Belle Iseult), oil painting 1858

Swashbucklers at the Round Table

Amongst the popular Arthurian movies are the big Hollywood productions of the 1950s and 60s and recently First Knight (Zucker, 1995), and John Boormans Excalibur (1981), which was also produced in Hollywood for a large audience. The legends surrounding king Arthur fit perfectly into the scheme of popular adventure narratives because most of the Arthurian heroes are excellent embodiments of the light in the darkness, the hero on a quest, who gains a name and a girl and brings prosperity to the society he lives in. This scheme was used for hundreds of adventure movies that were produced in Hollywood since the 1920s, in the

so-called Swashbuckler-genre, featuring heroes like Ivanhoe and Dick Turpin. And every generation has its own Robin Hood: who has always been Swashbuckler number one.Errol Flyn "King of the Swashbucklers" kissing Olivia de Haviland; in Robin Hood (1938, Curtiz)

It is quite surprising that no Arthurian stories were used until the 1950s (apart from a few silent movies and adaptations of Mark Twain's parody A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court. Apart from some technical reasons (widescreen, bigger budgets), this can be ascribed to some unwelcome themes that travelled with the legend since medieval times. The inevitable downfall of the kingdom, the incest between Arthur and his (half)sister Morgan le Fay, the adulterous relationship between Lancelot and Guinevere and the central role of supernatural phenomena all go against the conventions of the Swashbuckler-genre.In the 1950s two Hollywood studios dealt with these problems in a way that had been used since medieval times, by simply introducing a new hero to king Arthur's court. This resulted in two quite successful movies: Prince Valiant (1954, Hathaway), who was already famous in the United States through the cartoons, and the lesser Black Knight (1954, Garnett) which is usually described as an Arthurian Western. In both films Camelot is merely the background for the adventure.

Janet Leigh and Robert Wagner in Prince Valiant

The Knights of the Round Table (1953, Thorpe) differs from these two because the writers based their script directly on the chronicles of Malory and Geoffrey of Monmouth. But in this film the incest is not mentioned, Lancelot and Guinevere suffer without relief and the supernatural Holy Grail is only used to give the film an upbeat ending. Those omissions did not pay off; the story was still far too gloomy and tragic for a Swashbuckler.After the 1950s the Swashbuckler-genre evolved dramatically. In the 60s Lancelot and Guinevere actually get their moment of joy in a movie that is not surprisingly titled Lancelot and Guinevere (1963, Wilde). The Adventure-heroes had to learn to ironise their own status in order to survive in the 1970s and 80s. This irony made it for instance possible that Indiana Jones and his father share the same woman in Indiana Jones and the last Crusade (1989, Spielberg). And the rise of Fantasy as a filmgenre made the supernatural acceptable, mildly used in the Hollywood (and Swashbuckler) blockbuster Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves (1991, Reynolds).Knights of the Round Table, summary

(Watching the film on a television set is not a good idea. It was the first MGM production in Cinemascope and the cinema is the only place to enjoy the wide panoramic view on the scenes that were shot partly in Ireland and Cornwall.)

"King Uther has died. Both Arthur and Mordred (here Mordred is the lover of Arthur's sister Morgan) want to be his successor. Mordred has tyranny in mind, Arthur intends to be a king for the people and has Merlin on his side, who is his counsellor rather than a magician. Arthur draws Excalibur from the stone, but Mordred refuses to give in.Lancelot, the son of the French king Ban of Benwick, is looking for king Arthur, the only lord he wants to serve. In a forest he meets the young lady Elaine. When he is ambushed (by Mordred's men who are waiting for Arthur) a knight comes to his aid. Lancelot does not like to be helped and challenges the knight. After a long and undecided duel the knight turns out to be Arthur. Lancelot offers him his service, and so does young Perceval, who comes to pick up his sister Elaine.Lancelot joins Arthur on his way to the council at the ring of stones (Stonehenge). There Mordred tries to kill Arthur, but Lancelot saves him. The war is on. After his victory Arthur establishes the Round Table. But soon after he gets into conflict with Lancelot, who does not want him to pardon Mordred and Morgan.Guinevere is to marry Arthur, but on the way to Camelot she is captured by an evil knight. It is Lancelot (as a nameless knight) who saves her and orders the evil knight (who will be one of his companions later on) to bring her to Camelot in safety. After the wedding the knights are to pay homage to their king and queen. Lancelot reappears and is the first to kneel before them. Arthur makes him the champion of the queen.Lancelot and Guinevere feel deeply for each other, but do not consume their passion. Instead Lancelot marries Elaine to silence the gossip about him and the queen, and he takes his bride away from the court. Gawain and Gareth are Lancelot's loyal companions: Gawain watches over Elaine, while Lancelot and Gareth are out fighting the Picts. Perceval visits them and talks about his quest for the Holy Grail. Elaine dies after giving birth to a son: Galahad.Mordred and Morgan are responsible for the death of Merlin and a plot to get Lancelot back to Camelot and Guinevere. Lancelot pretends to have lost his feelings for her and flirts openly with lady Vivien. The queen is hurt by this and visits his chambers late at night. When Mordred's men (amongst them Agravaine) are banging on the door and all is lost, she sees proof of Lancelot's love for her. They kiss for the first and last time, right before Lancelot kills Agravaine and his men and brings the queen to safety.King Arthur has to judge his best friend and wife, but does not give in to Mordred's demand to have them killed. Instead Lancelot is banished to France and Guinevere has to retreat in a convent. The union of the Round Table falls apart and Mordred finds support to challenge Arthur again.Once again the civil war rages over the country and Arthur is mortally wounded. It is Lancelot who throws Excalibur into the lake and then kills Mordred. Afterwards Lancelot and Perceval enter the ruins of Camelot. Perceval has a vision of the Holy Grail and hears a heavenly voice that tells him Lancelot will be forgiven for his sins and Lancelot's son, Galahad, will be the most accomplished knight ever."The wedding in Knights of the Round Table

First Knight

The success of this Robin Hood (Reynolds, 1991, see the menu on the left under Swashbuclers) paved the way for a revival of the Middle Ages in Hollywood (Rob Roy and Braveheart also came out in 1995) and it gave the Arthurian legend a new change. However, First Knight is in the light of the cinematographic developments mentioned earlier a huge disappointment. The producers avoided all risks and the result is a visually and technically overwhelming, but in every other respect half-hearted, picture. The way Lancelot is introduced, seems to indicate that they wanted to bring a new hero to the court, but it is also the old Lancelot of the chronicles whose feelings for the queen are condemned. And there is the Swashbuckler Lancelot who has to get his girl in the end to secure a happy ending.To solve the problems that this mixture of the traditional legend and the conventions of the Swashbuckler-genre bring about, Arthur has to be killed without hope on his return. The bier that floats on the water reminds the audience of the traditional voyage to Avalon, but then a burning arrow discards all hope.And the kingdom does not fall: Lancelot will be the new king, with lady Guinevere on his side. This is also necessary because Camelot is, once again, depicted as the ideal American society. At one point Arthur delivers a speech that could easily be interpreted as a plea for the American intervention policy. Malagant is, in contrast, a very plain villain: just bad, nothing else.Sean Connery (king Arthur) and Julia Ormond (Guinevere)

First Knight sticks to the old Swashbuckler conventions by not allowing any miracles to happen. Adultery is also "not done" and therefore Guinevere is still a virgin at the end of the movie. And because these romantic developments are taken very seriously, there is not much room for a light sense of humour or irony, which is essential to a modern Swashbuckler movie.The emphasis on the triangle Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot leaves little space for side-kicks. Apart John Gielgud in a supporting role as Guinevere's counselor, there is only room for minor characters like Ralph, Peter and Marc. The knights of the round table are as colourless as their uniform outfit suggests. The use of colour is on the other hand very effective in the depiction of the different cities and the development of Guinevere, from innocence, to Queen, to confusion about her feelings for Arthur and Lancelot.In 1991 Robin Hood already suffered from a father complex, and here Lancelots desire for freedom is explained (negatively) by a childhood trauma. The introduction of this bit of "obvious" psychology is very abrupt, almost clumsy. Right after Lancelot starts talking about "the walls burning down" the scriptwriters or editors made a significant mistake: Guinevere talks about the fire in the church although she has no way of knowing about it.Richard Gere (Lancelot) and Julia Ormond (Guinevere)

There are some interesting moments during the battle for Leonesse. Lancelot throws off the suffocating helmet and fights much better on foot than on a horse like a true knight is supposed to. That is probably what the film should have done: free itself from all those suffocating cinematic and moral conventions.Also they should have looked beyond Malory (the most obvious source for popular retellings of the legend) and find that the story they came up with had a lot in common with the original Lancelot-story of Chrétien de Troyes: the episodic adventure, a so-called "Fair Unknown" as a hero and the abduction plot. What the film lacks in comparison to Chrétien is a coherent vision on love and adultery, a magic environment and a subtle sense of irony.The question what First Knight is like can only be answered in terms of what it is not. The movie is far too heavy-laden to be a true Swashbuckler. It is not really an episodic adventure because of Arthur's part in the story. It is clearly not an adaptation of the Arthurian chronicles to the screen. And most importantly, it lacks the sense of irony of the Chrétiens original twelfth century story and the sense of humour of a true Swashbuckler. What is left? Well, it is a slick movie, and it can be entertaining if you are in the mood for mindless action and romance.First Knight, summary

Director: Jerry Zucker.

Starring: Sean Connery, Julia Ormond, Richard Gere.

Story: Lorne Cameron, David Hoselton, William Nicholson.

Screenplay: William Nicholson. 1995 Columbia Pictures"Lancelot fights for money in a village, he defeats two challengers. The same village is burnt down by Malagant and his men. The villagers arrive in Leonesse en are welcomed by Guinevere and her counsellor Oswald, who reminds her of king Arthur's marriage proposal. She decides to give Arthur a yes because she admires him.On the way to Camelot the party from Leonesse is attacked by Malagant's men. Guinevere has to beat an attacker off her carriage, before she can jump off herself. Three men pursue her through the forest, but Lancelot appears and saves her. He makes advances, but she does not give in. He predicts she will ask him to kiss her before her wedding day. Guinevere is welcomed to Camelot in great style.Lancelot runs the gauntlet during the festivities in Camelot. His prize is a kiss from the queen-to-be. She does not want to and he solves the awkward situation by saying he does not want the kiss out of fear to loose his heart to such a lovely lady. Arthur explains the ideal of the Round Table to Lancelot: "in serving each other we become free". Lancelot says he does not need anyone.Arthur tells Guinevere he would protect Leonesse even if she does not want to marry him. But she wants to, say she loves him and knows just one way of loving: "with body, heart and soul". That is how he likes it: "love as warm as sunlight".A gathering of the knights of the Round Table, one seat is empty. It used to seat for Malagant, who enters and claims Leonesse. Arthur and Guinevere refuse to give in to his demands. That buys them war.Malagants men seize Guinevere from Camelot, with the help of a clever construction of a boat, some pulley's, a lot of rope and a couple of horses. Lancelot pursues them. Malagant holds Guinevere captive in a ruin. Lancelot pretends to be Arthur's messenger and saves her for the second time.In the forest they come closer to each other. He has a flash-back of his childhood trauma: his parents were killed in a church which was burned by robbers. With all this sensitivity in the air he comes closer to seducing her, but when they are about to kiss, Arthur's men arrive. Arthur is grateful for the rescue and wants to make Lancelot a knight of the Round Table, and so happens even though the knights are protesting. Guinevere can not change Lancelot's mind about this. He stays because of her.The marriage ceremony is performed. A messenger arrives to bring the news of Malagant taking Leonesse. Arthur leads his army to Leonesse and to victory. Lancelot cries out when he sees the church-gate barricaded and is reminded again of his trauma, but the people of Leonnesse are all right. A little boy asks Lancelot: 'Can I go home now?' Lancelot cries behind a hedge.Back in Camelot Lancelot tells Guinevere he truly believes in the ideals of the Round Table and that he can serve the cause best by leaving. Now she tries to convince him otherwise. He stays with his decision, but takes her in his arms when she says he owes her a kiss. Arthur enters and witnesses the passionate embrace. Guinevere tries to convince Arthur of her love for him, but has to admit she loves Lancelot in a different way. Arthur says his dream is broken. Lancelot and Guinevere will be judged in public.Lancelot kneels in front of the king and states the queen is innocence. Suddenly Malagant's men pop up to take over Camelot. Arthur pretends to give in to Malagant's demands, but calls upon the people to defend themselves against the tyranny.The knights of the Round Table, the people of Camelot and Lancelot defeat the villains. Malagant dies on the throne he desired, killed by Lancelot with Arthur's sword.Guinevere cries at Arthur's death-bed. Lancelot arrives and Arthur calls him his first knight. Lancelot will inherit Camelot and Arthur asks him to take care of Guinevere. Arthur tells Guinevere he now feels the sunlight, because it shines in her eyes. And then he dies. Arthur's bier is set afloat in the water and a burning arrow initiates the cremation."Excalibur

John Boorman intended to visualise the whole legend on the screen, and so he did. His biggest problem was how to compress the story into the length of a normal movie. But he did not reduce his sources. He actually used many bits and pieces of different versions of the legend and fused them together. Narrative elements from Chrétien de Troyes, Malory, Tennyson, T.S. Elliot, T.H. White and even the old Tristan romances are recognisable in Excalibur, as well as Pre-Raphaelite and Wagnerian images. The speed of the action and the density of visual symbols make it almost impossible for an audience to comprehend the movie on an intellectual level, and that is not what Boorman aims at. He forces his viewers to surrender, to let go and travel with the flow of the legend, to comprehend with the innate capability to understand myth. That is also connected with one of the themes in Excalibur: the birth of ratio out of the unconsciousness. King Uther is unable to master his instincts, rapes Ygraine and thus fathers Arthur, who reigns twenty years later with reason on his side. Camelot is the achievement of rational judgement in contrast to Uther's unbound passion. But Camelot is built on the foundations of Merlin's power and his magic is part of the unconsciousness. These two, ratio and unconsciousness, must be in balance.But Arthur puts reason over love. According to his own laws he must be king before husband and therefore he can not defend Guinevere's honour when she is accused of adultery. Guinevere turns to Lancelot and their love flowers, even if it is just for a brief moment. When Arthur sees his wife in the arms of his best friend, he freaks and loses the sword Excalibur, his connection to the powers of the unconsciousness: Merlin and the lady of the lake.The lovers in the forestBut the downfall of the kingdom is also indirectly caused by Uther's (male) lust. Morgana sees how he rapes her mother Ygraine and knows that Uther and Merlin are responsible for the death of her father. She dedicates her life to revenge, steals the "charm of making" from Merlin and cheats her halfbrother Arthur into a one-night stand to become pregnant of Mordred, who will eventually kill his father.Arthur becomes numb and his kingdom a waste land. It is Perceval on the quest for the Holy Grail who finds the answer, a concept that derives from the old Celtic tradition: "the king and the land are one". And it is Guinevere who has kept the sword for her husband, which re-establishes his contact with Merlin, even though it is just in a dream.At this stage both Merlin and Arthur become aware of the role they will have for future generations. Arthur knows that he: "was not born to lead a man's life, but to be the stuff of future memory". And Merlin has ceased to exist in reality, but is present in our unconsciousness: "a dream to some, a nightmare to others".So here we have the whole story, in a very compressed form that is. Some critics have stated that Excalibur rattles through the legend, but by doing so they underestimate Boorman's ability to tell stories with images and symbols and the way he lets the story run on different levels simultaneously. Excalibur is a highly entertaining story, but also an advanced interpretation of the legend, a particular vision on myth in general. The overwhelming speed and density of the action will lead the audience, like Arthur and Merlin, to understand the longing for a lost golden age and the "dream of what could be".

Music and musical director: Trevor Jones -extracts from: Carl Orff, O fortuna from Carmina Burana; Richard Wagner, prelude to Parsifal, prelude to Tristan and Isolde and the Funeral March from The Ring.

(In the beginning there is a lot of fire, battle and chaos. The human race is still in a sort of unconscious state. The sword comes to bring order, but paradoxically it comes from a deeper unconscious force, hidden beneath the lake.)Merlin brings Uther to the lake, where he receives the sword Excalibur, which is given to him by the Lady of the Lake, a hand rising from the water. The power of the sword will make him king. Merlin pressures Uther to make a deal with his main opponent, the duke of Cornwall. But when Uther sees Cornwall's wife Ygraine dancing, his lust takes over once again. Merlin is disappointed, but uses his magic "charm of making" so that Uther takes on the outer shape of Cornwall, which enables him to make love to Ygraine, while the real Cornwall dies in battle.(Actually Cornwall dies because a couple of black birds fly in his way, not a coincidence I presume).The daughter of the duke of Cornwall and Ygraine, Morgana, knows what has really happened.Nine months later Merlin demands what Uther promised him, the fruit of his lust, the baby Arthur. Merlin walks into the woods and Uther chases him to get the child back. But the king is ambushed. With his last bit of strength Uther drives Excalibur into a stone and dies. Merlin then predicts that: "he who draws the sword from the stone shall be king".(Uther driving the sword in the stone is not in any of the old stories, usually Excalibur and the sword in the stone are not one and the same. But this had a lot of advantages for the movie, most notably: it saved time. Now it was very easy to keep the sword as a central point and skip twenty years in the story, by fading to black and then showing the same shot in a different season and with a whole tournament site built around the sword in the stone.)Twenty year old Arthur, his stepfather Ector and stepbrother Kay arrive at the scene. Kay will fight in the tournament, Arthur is his squire. He who defeats all the others earns the right to an attempt to draw the sword and become king. Leondegrance wins, but fails to draw the sword. The festivities go on, Arthur has forgotten Kay's sword. He runs back to the tent, but the sword is stolen. He stumbles upon the sword in the stone and draws it out. Afterwards he does it again with one hand. Merlin appears and proclaims that he is Uther's son. But the knights, with the exception of Leondegrance, are not willing to accept such a young squire as their king.Arthur spends the night in the forest where Merlin explains to him what being a king is all about: "You will be the land and the land will be you."(Here Boorman tries to catch the spirit of the first book of T. H. White's The Once and Future King, where Arthur is educated by Merlin, in a single sequence. In the book Merlin changes young Arthur into all kinds of animals, here they are just crawling around, as part of the dragon.) The next day Arthur and his companions come to the aid of Leondegrance whose castle is being attacked by the other knights. Arthur fights smartly and bravely. One of his opponents, Uriëns, refuses to accept him as king, even when Arthur points Excalibur to his throat, because he is just a squire. Arthur hands him Excalibur and asks Uriëns to make him knight and let him be his king, and so it happens. During the festivities afterwards Arthur meets Leondegrance's daughter Guinevere. Merlin tries to forewarn him about Lancelot and Guinevere's treason, but Arthur only has eyes for Guinevere.(This scene is a good example of the different layers of meaning that Boorman works with. Guinevere offers Arthur a cookie which is made according to a very old and secret recipe. Merlin says to Arthur: "Looking at the cake is like looking at the future, until you've tasted it you don't know what it's like, and then of course, it's too late." Arthur takes a bite, still preoccupied by Guinevere who is dancing, and then of course it is too late. Apart from the fact that this is a very comical exchange of words and glances as well as a wise truth, it is also an introduction to the next scene where Lancelot appears for the first time. But there is more: the dialogue actually tells the audience a lot about Merlin. He can look into the future, but this does not help him or Arthur any further. And apart form the future, the cake stands for something else as well, as Guinevere says: "a very old and secret ingredient", which is love. This human emotion is so old and secret that even Merlin can not comprehend it. Love will be his downfall as we learn later on.)A couple of years later Arthur is angry because one man defeats his best knights. He decides to fight the duel himself. The knight introduces himself as Lancelot. When Arthur is about to loose the fight he abuses the powers of Excalibur to go at Lancelot. The sword breaks, but his remorse about his dumb pride, brings the lady of the lake to mend it. Lancelot will be Arthur's first knight.Again some time has passed. Arthur and his knights celebrate victory in their last big battle. The land is one, peace and prosperity reign. By intervention of Merlin the knights form a circle, which inspires Arthur to establish the Round Table.Lancelot comes to take Guinevere to her marriage with Arthur. He explains to her that he will love no other but her, his queen and his best friends wife. The marriage is celebrated in a Christian atmosphere. In the background Merlin meets Morgana who tells him she is a creature like him. Merlin says: "The days of our kind are numbered. The one god comes to drive out the many gods."(Here Boorman uses the principle of "crosscutting" (jumping between two scenes, in this case the marriage and Merlin's conversation with Morgana) to enhance the contrast between christianity and druidism. He used the same technique with the scenes of Uther making violent love to Ygraine and Cornwall dying, and will use it a couple of times more.)Lancelot meets the naive Perceval in a forest and takes him to Camelot where he can become a kitchen boy.During a banquet Morgana whispers in Gawain's ear, who then speaks up and accuses Guinevere of keeping Lancelot from the court because she desires him. Arthur decides that Gawain has to back up these words in combat against the queen's champion. Guinevere is disappointed that Arthur does not defend her himself, as a king he has to be her judge, and he is king before husband.Lancelot stays in the forest again, haunted by sorrow and pain, because in his heart he is guilty of wanting Guinevere. At night he dreams of a fight with himself and as he wakes up he finds his own sword stuck in his side.When Lancelot does not show up for the duel, Arthur is forced to knight the kitchen boy Perceval, the only one brave enough to stand up for the queen. Lancelot gets there just in time and defeats Gawain, although the wound in his side causes him heavy pains. (There is a lot happening at the same time here. The later grail hero Perceval is introduced and through his eyes we see the absolute high of Arthur's reign and the "city of silver and gold" Camelot. There is also a comical intermezzo of Perceval bumping into Merlin. The introduction is important because later on the two main characters, Arthur and Merlin, will be out of sight and Perceval has to take over. Seen in this light it is probably not coincidental that Perceval looks so much like Arthur. By interlacing these events Boorman once again saves time, also by having Perceval step in for Lancelot. This is something that happens all the time in the medieval stories, one knight stepping in for the other, and the other one showing up just in time to fight his own battle. So Boorman quite brilliantly uses a medieval narrative concept to solve the cinematic problem of having only a restricted amount of time on the screen. By interlacing the events Boorman also gives the movie a natural flow. In fact the medieval chronicle writers used similar techniques.)Lancelot's wound seems fatal until Arthur orders Merlin to heal him. When asked Merlin (who seems to doze of a lot, almost ready to leave this world) answers that truth is the highest quality for a knight. It causes Lancelot to run to the forest again, but this time Guinevere comes after him and they have their moment of pure love together.Merlin says farewell to Arthur and points him in the direction of the lovers. When Arthur finds them sleeping innocently and naked, he despairs and drives Excalibur between them in the earth. At the same time Merlin is with Morgana in the cave of the dragon, the heart of his power. When Arthur thrusts the sword into the earth, the spine of the dragon, the cave shakes and Morgana is able to catch Merlin off guard. She worms the secret of the "charm of making" out of him and uses it to lock him in a crystal for eternity.The lovers in the forest are an allusion to the early Tristan romances. Which becomes clear when Arthur plays the role of king Mark finding the lovers in the forest and leaving his mark. The meeting between Lancelot and Guinevere is filmed as an extremely innocent moment, their nakedness is pure rather than sexual and the lovers look like Adam and Eve in paradise before the fall of men.Interesting is the fact that Merlin defines the cave of the dragon as a place where all things meet their opposite: "the future and the past, desire and regret, knowledge and oblivion". But when Morgana says "love", one would expect Merlin to answer "hate", but he just says: "O yes". That leads to the conclusion that love carries the opposites within itself. Apart from the idyll in the forest, love seems to be a destructive force in the movie. Uther's love for Ygraine is more like lust and greed, wanting to have it all, and Morgana uses it to avenge her father on Merlin and Arthur, Uther's son. Arthur is not capable of loving Guinevere totally because he is king first. Lancelot and Guinevere are the only ones meeting on equal terms, for no other reason than love itself. In the medieval stories the adultery is depicted as courtly (Chrétien) as well as sinful (Vulgate cycle) (see "Legends" in the menu on the left), and this tension has been present in the Arthurian tradition ever since. Where Tennyson condemns Guinevere in the 19th century, William Morris comes to her defence (see "Pre-Raphaelites" in the menu on the left. Boorman does not seem to take a clear stand in this discussion, he just shows the incredible force of love, and maybe gives us a hint by having Arthur say he would like to be "just a man" and meet Guinevere again. Love can flower only when the lovers are equals. Here the influence of Carl Gustav Jung is notable, who thought that power is the natural enemy of pure love. And there are a lot of power struggles going on in the story.)Morgana bewitches Arthur, makes him think he is sleeping with Guinevere, while he is in fact fathering Mordred, Morgana's son. The birth is a black mass in which Morgana is midwife and mother simultaneously. At the same time Arthur and his knights are in church. A priest prays for protection against Morgana and her unholy child. Arthur is struck by lightning. (I am not sure what this means, whether it is God condemning Arthur, or what?)The land is in need, the people are suffering. Arthur is weak, but calls on his knights to find the Grail to save the country. Ten years later Perceval is still looking for the Grail. He rides through the Waste Land, finds young Mordred and follows him to Morgana's place. There are a lot of (very) dead knights hanging from a tree. Morgana tries to seduce Perceval to serve her instead of the cause. Perceval resists the temptation and is hung in the tree along side the corpses. He has a vision of the Grail castle, brightly lit. From the light a voice asks him the questions: "What is the secret of the Grail? Whom does it serve?" But Perceval panics and flees. When he falls from the bridge to the castle, he falls from the tree as well, because the spurs of the knight hanging above him cut the rope.Eight years later Mordred had grown up and comes to Camelot to demand the throne of his father. Arthur, still very weak refuses and Mordred declares war.In the forest Perceval watches from behind a tree how Mordred and his men slaughter Uriëns. Before he dies Uriëns still finds the strength to tell Perceval never tot give up the quest. Perceval is desperate but continues and meets Lancelot, who has gone mad. Lancelot leads a group of emaciated people in anger, who beat Perceval into a stream.Under water Perceval relieves himself of his armour. "I can't give up hope Lancelot," he says when he comes up, "it's all I've got." Once again he has the vision of the Grail Castle and the bright light, but this time (he is naked and pure) he crosses the bridge without hesitation and answers the questions. Arthur himself is the Grail-king and the secret he has lost is that the king and the land are one.Perceval has Arthur drink form the cup and reveals the secret the king has lost. Arthur awakes from his lethargy and rides out with his faithful knights. The land flourishes as well, and blossoms again.(Here the Grail is not the christian Holy Grail, Boorman returns to the old Celtic notion of the king being responsible for the fertility of the land.)Arthur visits Guinevere in a monastery. He forgives and asks forgiveness and she returns Excalibur, which she has kept safe after the episode in the forest, to him.On the night before the battle Arthur has a vision of Merlin. This frees Merlin from his imprisonment. As a "dream-body" he walks into Mordred's camp and finds Morgana in her tent. He gets her to use the "charm of making". The effort costs her the beauty and youth she managed to maintain all those years. When Mordred finds her as an old woman he strangles her.The fog released by the "charm of making" is in the advantage of Arthur's army because they are the minority. Their bravery and the return of Lancelot to Arthur's ranks keeps the armies in balance and they destroy each other. Arthur forgives Lancelot before the latter dies of the old wound in his side.Arthur kills Mordred, but is fatally wounded himself. He orders Perceval to throw Excalibur into the lake. Perceval fails the first time. The second time the hand of the Lady of the Lake appears to catch the sword. When Perceval returns to Arthur, the king has already been taken on a boat by three priestesses (and is heading for Avalon, I presume).The end.(Boorman, like Jung and Joseph Campbell, believes that every great myth marks a turning point in the history of mankind. And in his conception of the Arthurian story it is interpreted as the coming of consciousness. Uther's world is chaos, disorder, an entanglement of unbound emotions.In contrast Arthur's world is orderly, his laws are rational. However, Arthur's Camelot is still connected with the powers of the unconscious through Merlin and Excalibur. For a while these two, ratio and the unconscious, are in balance and the result of this union is the golden age of Camelot.But this golden age is not to last. Merlin, the representative of the unconscious, seems to get tired and the events, which he can not control, lead to disharmony. Arthur is unable to deal with his emotions when he finds Lancelot and Guinevere together and contributes to Merlin's final imprisonment by thrusting Excalibur into the spine of the dragon. Ratio and the unconscious are separated and the result is a Waste Land.On this level the Waste Land also symbolises the modern, rational world in which we live in (like in T. S. Elliot's poem). It is as if Boorman is telling us we should be much more aware of the unconscious in order to be in harmony with ourselves and the world we live in. And where is the unconscious to be found? According to Jung (and others) we should study our dreams, which is exactly what Arthur does, he wakes Merlin by dreaming of him. And from that moment on Merlin is "a dream to some and a nightmare to others" and his magic is accessible to all.)A lot more could be said about the movie. Different angles of looking at it will result in different interpretations, which by no means have to contradict each other, but will just prove how rich Excalibur really is.

Arthur

The Once and Future King

Queen Guinevere

My King or Knight?

Welcome

Welcome to Arthurian Knights a site for all devotees of Arthur. Here I hope you will refresh yourself through the cup of kindness, as you ride with Arthur through his many tales. Journey with me back in time to the early traditions of Arthur and delve into the mysteries of the Matter of Britain, the Matter of Wales, to find the origins of Arthur.Walk amongst the ladies and knights of Camelot and the other places associated through time and tales to Arthur, like Glastonbury and the association of Joseph of Arimathea and the Holy Grail. Meet all the characters that make the stories so exciting and journey with them on their quests, like the Green Knight.Questions like why Arthur is still alive today? and How important are heroes in our modern society? I hope to discuss with you and share thoughts.

Arthur Conference

Blood, sex and violence feature in Arthurian conferenceSome of the thornier and more controversial issues surrounding the legends of King Arthur’s Court will be revealed at a major international conference at the University of Leicester in April.The conference on Malory’s ‘Morte Darthur’, run by Dr David Clark, Lecturer in Medieval Literature at the University, and entitled Blood, Sex, Malory: An International Conference on the Morte Darthur, its sources and reception will take place at Stamford Hall on the 24th and 25th of April and, as its title suggests, will examine two current ‘hot topics’ of medieval scholarship – blood and sex.It will go beyond the traditional themes such as the blood of Christ and the Sangreal to reveal new insights on Malory and his sources, including the links between sex and violence, kinship loyalties and revenge, the complexities of marriage and family relationships, including adultery and incest, and issues around gender and sexuality.The universal fascination of the Arthurian legends which Sir Thomas Malory collected together in the 15th century is reflected in films, television dramas and books that are still hugely popular today. Without Malory, you could argue, there would have been no BBC series Merlin (2008), no Once and Future King, by T. H. White, part of which was transformed by Disney in 1963 into The Sword in the Stone, and no Arthurian poems by Tennyson.We would be without the stage and screen versions of Lerner and Loewe’s musical Camelot, the novel and TV mini-series The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, First Knight, the 1995 movie starring Richard Gere, Julia Ormond and Sean Connery and the 2002-3 best-selling Arthur trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland, plus countless other versions of the Arthurian legend.Dr David Clark, a medievalist in the University’s School of English, commented: “The legend of King Arthur has always been at the forefront of the popular imagination. The Sword in the Stone; the Once and Future King; the love triangle between Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelot; and the treacherous Mordred, Arthur’s illegitimate and incestuous son.“All these things have an eternal resonance, and the question of Arthur’s historical existence, too, has long been debated. The legends which grew up around Camelot have had a huge influence on literature and the media.“Perhaps the most important exponent of Arthurian legend was Sir Thomas Malory, a knight and at one time member of Parliament who lived from around 1405 to 1471, most likely in Warwickshire. He is best known for his long work, called Le Morte Darthur (‘The Death of Arthur’), which brought together all the various stories about King Arthur and the knights of the Round Table from France, England and elsewhere, for the first time into one massive collection.”Camelot is often seen as an ideal kingdom, but the truth is more complicated, Dr Clark says, and Malory’s Morte Darthur presents an ambiguous picture: sometimes tidying up his sources, but often leaving or introducing surprisingly lurid details and events.The conference will feature the latest scholarship by experts from France, the USA, and across the United Kingdom, and promises to provide a lively and productive couple of days.Leading international scholars to speak at the conference, will include Professor Elizabeth Archibald (University of Bristol), author of A Companion to Malory, and Incest and the Medieval Imagination (Oxford University Press); and Dr Catherine La Farge (National University of Ireland, Galway), an authority on blood and love in Malory.2009 marks the 75th Anniversary of the rediscovery of the Wincester Manuscript – one of the most important sources for Malory’s text – and this will be marked by a special session devoted to manuscript and textual issues by three Leicester scholars (Professor A.S.G. Edwards of De Montfort University, and Dr Orietta Da Rold and Dr Takako Kato of the University of Leicester).The conference Blood, Sex, Malory will end with a Round Table discussion panel chaired by Dr Carolyne Larrington, Fellow at St John’s College, Oxford, whose most recent book is King Arthur's Enchantresses: Morgan and Her Sisters in Arthurian Tradition (2006).For more details of the conference please contact Dr David Clark, School of English, University of Leicester, tel 0116 252 2636, email dc147@le.ac.uk. Or visit: www.le.ac.uk/ee/maloryNotes to Editors: The conference Blood, Sex, Malory: An International Conference on the Morte Darthur, its sources and reception will take place on 24-25th April at Stamford Hall. For more information on this please contact Dr David Clark, School of English, University of Leicester, tel 0116 252 2636, email dc147@le.ac.ukCFP: The Society for Utopian Studies 2009 Conference; Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, 29 October - 1 November 2009CFP: “On the Possibility of Worlds”: Interdisciplinary Conference; Princeton, 6-7 March 2009

Link List to Arthurian Sites

In Defence of Guinevere

rescue

Defence of Guinevere by William Morris

But, knowing now that they would have her speak,She threw her wet hair backward from her brow,Her hand close to her mouth touching her cheek,As though she had had there a shameful blow,And feeling it shameful to feel ought but shameAll through her heart, yet felt her cheek burned so,She must a little touch it; like one lameShe walked away from Gauwaine, with her headStill lifted up; and on her cheek of flameThe tears dried quick;She stopped at last and said:"O knights and lords, it seems but little skillTo talk of well-known things past now and dead."God wot I ought to say, I have done ill,And pray you all forgiveness heartily!Because you must be right, such great lords; still"Listen, suppose your time were come to die,And you were quite alone and very weak;Yea, laid a dying while very mightily"The wind was ruffling up the narrow streakOf river through your broad lands running well:Suppose a hush should come, then some one speak:"'One of these cloths is heaven, and one is hell,Now choose one cloth for ever; which they be,I will not tell you, you must somehow tell"'Of your own strength and mightiness; here, see!'Yea, yea, my lord, and you to ope your eyes,At foot of your familiar bed to see"A great God's angel standing, with such dyes,Not known on earth, on his great wings, and hands,Held out two ways, light from the inner skies"Showing him well, and making his commandsSeem to be God's commands, moreover, too,Holding within his hands the cloths on wands;"And one of these strange choosing cloths was blue,Wavy and long, and one cut short and red;No man could tell the better of the two."After a shivering half-hour you said:'God help! heaven's colour, the blue;' and he said, 'hell.'Perhaps you then would roll upon your bed,"And cry to all good men that loved you well,'Ah Christ! if only I had known, known, known;'Launcelot went away, then I could tell,"Like wisest man how all things would be, moan,And roll and hurt myself, and long to die,And yet fear much to die for what was sown."Nevertheless you, O Sir Gauwaine, lie,Whatever may have happened through these years,God knows I speak truth, saying that you lie."Her voice was low at first, being full of tears,But as it cleared, it grew full loud and shrill,Growing a windy shriek in all men's ears,A ringing in their startled brains, untilShe said that Gauwaine lied, then her voice sunk,And her great eyes began again to fill,Though still she stood right up, and never shrunk,But spoke on bravely, glorious lady fair!Whatever tears her full lips may have drunk,She stood, and seemed to think, and wrung her hair,Spoke out at last with no more trace of shame,With passionate twisting of her body there:"It chanced upon a day that Launcelot cameTo dwell at Arthur's court: at Christmas-timeThis happened; when the heralds sung his name,"Son of King Ban of Benwick, seemed to chimeAlong with all the bells that rang that day,O'er the white roofs, with little change of rhyme."Christmas and whitened winter passed away,And over me the April sunshine came,Made very awful with black hail-clouds, yea"And in the Summer I grew white with flame,And bowed my head down: Autumn, and the sickSure knowledge things would never be the same,"However often Spring might be most thickOf blossoms and buds, smote on me, and I grewCareless of most things, let the clock tick, tick,"To my unhappy pulse, that beat right throughMy eager body; while I laughed out loud,And let my lips curl up at false or true,"Seemed cold and shallow without any cloud.Behold my judges, then the cloths were brought;While I was dizzied thus, old thoughts would crowd,"Belonging to the time ere I was boughtBy Arthur's great name and his little love;Must I give up for ever then, I thought,"That which I deemed would ever round me moveGlorifying all things; for a little word,Scarce ever meant at all, must I now prove"Stone-cold for ever? Pray you, does the LordWill that all folks should be quite happy and good?I love God now a little, if this cord"Were broken, once for all what striving couldMake me love anything in earth or heaven?So day by day it grew, as if one should"Slip slowly down some path worn smooth and even,Down to a cool sea on a summer day;Yet still in slipping there was some small leaven"Of stretched hands catching small stones by the way,Until one surely reached the sea at last,And felt strange new joy as the worn head lay"Back, with the hair like sea-weed; yea all pastSweat of the forehead, dryness of the lips,Washed utterly out by the dear waves o'ercast,"In the lone sea, far off from any ships!Do I not know now of a day in Spring?No minute of the wild day ever slips"From out my memory; I hear thrushes sing,And wheresoever I may be, straightwayThoughts of it all come up with most fresh sting:"I was half mad with beauty on that day,And went without my ladies all alone,In a quiet garden walled round every way;"I was right joyful of that wall of stone,That shut the flowers and trees up with the sky,And trebled all the beauty: to the bone,"Yea right through to my heart, grown very shyWith weary thoughts, it pierced, and made me glad;Exceedingly glad, and I knew verily,"A little thing just then had made me mad;I dared not think, as I was wont to do,Sometimes, upon my beauty; if I had"Held out my long hand up against the blue,And, looking on the tenderly darken'd fingers,Thought that by rights one ought to see quite through,"There, see you, where the soft still light yet lingers,Round by the edges; what should I have done,If this had joined with yellow spotted singers,"And startling green drawn upward by the sun?But shouting, loosed out, see now! all my hair,And trancedly stood watching the west wind run"With faintest half-heard breathing sound: why thereI lose my head e'en now in doing this;But shortly listen:In that garden fair"Came Launcelot walking; this is true, the kissWherewith we kissed in meeting that spring day,I scarce dare talk of the remember'd bliss,"When both our mouths went wandering in one way,And aching sorely, met among the leaves;Our hands being left behind strained far away."Never within a yard of my bright sleevesHad Launcelot come before: and now so nigh!After that day why is it Guenevere grieves?"Nevertheless you,O Sir Gauwaine, lie,Whatever happened on through all those years,God knows I speak truth, saying that you lie."Being such a lady could I weep these tearsIf this were true? A great queen such as IHaving sinn'd this way, straight her conscience sears;"And afterwards she liveth hatefully,Slaying and poisoning, certes never weeps:Gauwaine be friends now, speak me lovingly."Do I not see how God's dear pity creepsAll through your frame, and trembles in your mouth?Remember in what grave your mother sleeps,"Buried in some place far down in the south,Men are forgetting as I speak to you;By her head sever'd in that awful drouth"Of pity that drew Agravaine's fell blow,I pray you pity! let me not scream outFor ever after, when the shrill winds blow"Through half your castle-locks! let me not shoutFor ever after in the winter nightWhen you ride out alone! in battle-rout"Let not my rusting tears make your sword light!Ah!God of mercy, how he turns away!So, ever must I dress me to the fight,"So: let God's justice work! Gauwaine,I say,See me hew down your proofs: yea all men knowEven as you said how Mellyagraunce one day,"One bitter day in la Fausse Garde, for soAll good knights held it after, saw:Yea, sirs, by cursed unknightly outrage; though"You, Gauwaine, held his word without a flaw,This Mellyagraunce saw blood upon my bed:Whose blood then pray you? is there any law"To make a queen say why some spots of redLie on her coverlet? or will you say:'Your hands are white, lady, as when you wed,"'Where did you bleed?' and must I stammer out, 'Nay,I blush indeed, fair lord, only to rendMy sleeve up to my shoulder, where there lay"'A knife-point last night': so must I defendThe honour of the Lady Guenevere?Not so, fair lords, even if the world should end"This very day, and you were judges hereInstead of God. Did you see MellyagraunceWhen Launcelot stood by him? what white fear"Curdled his blood, and how his teeth did dance,His side sink in? as my knight cried and said:'Slayer of unarm'd men, here is a chance!"'Setter of traps, I pray you guard your head,By God I am so glad to fight with you,Stripper of ladies, that my hand feels lead"'For driving weight; hurrah now! draw and do,For all my wounds are moving in my breast,And I am getting mad with waiting so.'"He struck his hands together o'er the beast,Who fell down flat, and grovell'd at his feet,And groan'd at being slain so young: 'At least,'"My knight said, 'rise you, sir, who are so fleetAt catching ladies, half-arm'd will I fight,My left side all uncovered!' then I weet,"Up sprang Sir Mellyagraunce with great delightUpon his knave's face; not until just thenDid I quite hate him, as I saw my knight"Along the lists look to my stake and penWith such a joyous smile, it made me sighFrom agony beneath my waist-chain, when"The fight began, and to me they drew nigh;Ever Sir Launcelot kept him on the right,And traversed warily, and ever high"And fast leapt caitiff's sword, until my knightSudden threw up his sword to his left hand,Caught it, and swung it; that was all the fight,"Except a spout of blood on the hot land;For it was hottest summer; and I knowI wonder'd how the fire, while I should stand,"And burn, against the heat, would quiver so,Yards above my head; thus these matters went;Which things were only warnings of the woe"That fell on me. Yet Mellyagraunce was shent,For Mellyagraunce had fought against the Lord;Therefore, my lords, take heed lest you be blent"With all this wickedness; say no rash wordAgainst me, being so beautiful; my eyes,Wept all away to grey, may bring some sword"To drown you in your blood; see my breast rise,Like waves of purple sea, as here I stand;And how my arms are moved in wonderful wise,"Yea also at my full heart's strong command,See through my long throat how the words go upIn ripples to my mouth; how in my hand"The shadow lies like wine within a cupOf marvellously colour'd gold; yea nowThis little wind is rising, look you up,"And wonder how the light is falling soWithin my moving tresses: will you dare,When you have looked a little on my brow,"To say this thing is vile? or will you careFor any plausible lies of cunning woof,When you can see my face with no lie there"For ever? am I not a gracious proof:'But in your chamber Launcelot was found':Is there a good knight then would stand aloof,"When a queen says with gentle queenly sound:'O true as steel come now and talk with me,I love to see your step upon the ground"'Unwavering, also well I love to seeThat gracious smile light up your face, and hearYour wonderful words, that all mean verily"'The thing they seem to mean: good friend, so dearTo me in everything, come here to-night,Or else the hours will pass most dull and drear;"'If you come not, I fear this time I mightGet thinking over much of times gone by,When I was young, and green hope was in sight:"'For no man cares now to know why I sigh;And no man comes to sing me pleasant songs,Nor any brings me the sweet flowers that lie"'So thick in the gardens; therefore one so longsTo see you, Launcelot; that we may beLike children once again, free from all wrongs"'Just for one night.' Did he not come to me?What thing could keep true Launcelot awayIf I said, 'Come'? there was one less than three"In my quiet room that night, and we were gay;Till sudden I rose up, weak, pale, and sick,Because a bawling broke our dream up, yea"I looked at Launcelot's face and could not speak,For he looked helpless too, for a little while;Then I remember how I tried to shriek,"And could not, but fell down; from tile to tileThe stones they threw up rattled o'er my headAnd made me dizzier; till within a while"My maids were all about me, and my headOn Launcelot's breast was being soothed awayFrom its white chattering, until Launcelot said:"By God! I will not tell you more to-day,Judge any way you will: what matters it?You know quite well the story of that fray,"How Launcelot still'd their bawling, the mad fitThat caught up Gauwaine: all, all, verily,But just that which would save me; these things flit."Nevertheless you,O Sir Gauwaine, lie,Whatever may have happen'd these long years,God knows I speak truth, saying that you lie!"All I have said is truth, by Christ's dear tears."She would not speak another word, but stoodTurn'd sideways; listening, like a man who hearsHis brother's trumpet sounding through the woodOf his foes' lances. She lean'd eagerly,And gave a slight spring sometimes, as she couldAt last hear something really; joyfullyHer cheek grew crimson, as the headlong speedOf the roan charger drew all men to see,The knight who came was Launcelot at good need.

The Defence of Guinevere by William Morris

William Morris begins "The Defense of Guinevere" by describing her with her hand to her cheek as if to hide a "shameful blow."BUT, knowing now that they would have her speak,She threw her wet hair backward from her brow,Her hand close to her mouth touching her cheek,As though she had had there a shameful blow,And feeling it shameful to feel ougnt' but shameAll through her heart; yet felt her cheek burned so,She must a little touch it; like one lameShe walked away from Gauwaine, with her headStill lifted up; and on her cheek of flameThe tears dried quick; she stopped at last.Morris uses the word "shame" repeatedly in the opening of the poem which prompts the reader to think of her as a woman brought low, rather than a Queen. She even walks like "one lame" which subordinates Guinevere even further in relation to her audience. Yet, before concluding that Guinevere, from the narrator's point of view, encompasses nothing but weakness and shamefulness, it is important to note the motif of fire in the description. Her "cheek of flame" alludes not only to a shameful blush but also to a blush passion. Indeed, she emphatically and bravely "threw" her hair back to expose her brow, she walks with her head "Still lifted up" with pride rather than hanging low as we would expect from someone weak and shamed.Her rhetorical power is also clear from the start as she calmly and formally addresses her audience saying, "O knights and lords." Her speech employs the strategy of story telling through analogy, and Guinevere skillfully compels the audience to enter into her own reasoning of the situation. However, it is equally important to note that, although Guinevere appears to have an advantage by speaking so eloquently, her words ultimately indicate her powerlessness; she is forced to speak in order to delay punishment for the treason which she has committed. She must wait for Launcelot to rescue her. Hence, Guinevere occupies an extremely uncertain position, despite the relative strength of her speech.Indeed, the narrator's ambiguous description of her voice questions her rhetorical power further. The description initially emphasizes femininity in that Guinevere's voice begins "low" and "full of tears". Yet it rises, becoming "full loud" and clear which suggests strength and conviction. Nevertheless, the narrator does not stop here, asserting that Guinevere's voice finally becomes "shrill,/ Growing a windy shriek in all men's ears." In other words, Guinevere has ended up as a hysterical woman, and the narrator displays her as some kind of possessed woman in the eyes of the men before her. At this point, Guinevere is highly gendered, having exposed her feminine and emotional volatility rather than the calm demeanor of an orator.Questions1. William Morris begins this poem in the middle of a scene and in middle of the story of Guinevere and Sir Launcelot. Does this hinder the reader's appreciation of the scene or would background information have been unnecessary?2. Is it important that we know that Guinevere is the Queen? Why?3. Who is the narrator? Do you think that the narrator male or female? Does the narrator support Guinevere wholeheartedly?4. Guinevere's cheeks are flushed at the beginning of the poem AND at the end. What does it signify in each case?5. It seems as though Guinevere confesses to her crimes outright. Why, then, does she repeat the set of lines, "Nevertheless you, O Sir Gawaine, lie/ Whatever may have happenn'd these long years,/ God knows I speak truth, saying that you lie"? What does this inconsistency do to our opinion of Guinevere's character and integrity as someone telling the "truth" in front of the court and the eyes of God?6. Compare Guinevere with Helen of Troy.

Guinevere as a Nun

without Arthur without Lancelot

John Collier:Guinevere as the May Queen

queen, goddess:the energy behind the throne

King Arthur's Tomb

Lancelot and Guinevere Reminisce

King Arthur's Tomb by William Morris

Hot August noon: already on that day Since sunrise through the Wiltshire downs, most sadOf mouth and eye, he had gone leagues of way; Ay and by night, till whether good or badHe was, he knew not, though he knew perchance That he was Launcelot, the bravest knightOf all who since the world was, have borne lance, Or swung their swords in wrong cause or in right.Nay, he knew nothing now, except that where The Glastonbury gilded towers shine,A lady dwelt, whose name was Guenevere; This he knew also; that some fingers twine,Not only in a man's hair, even his heart, (Making him good or bad I mean,) but in his life,Skies, earth, men's looks and deeds, all that has part, Not being ourselves, in that half-sleep, half-strife,(Strange sleep, strange strife,) that men call living; so Was Launcelot most glad when the moon rose,Because it brought new memories of her. "Lo, Between the trees a large moon, the wind lows"Not loud, but as a cow begins to low, Wishing for strength to make the herdsman hear:The ripe corn gathereth dew; yea, long ago, In the old garden life, my Guenevere"Loved to sit still among the flowers, till night Had quite come on, hair loosen'd, for she said,Smiling like heaven, that its fairness might Draw up the wind sooner to cool her head."Now while I ride how quick the moon gets small, As it did then: I tell myself a taleThat will not last beyond the whitewashed wall, Thoughts of some joust must help me through the vale,"Keep this till after:How Sir Gareth ran A good course that day under my Queen's eyes,And how she sway'd laughing at Dinadan. No. Back again, the other thoughts will rise,"And yet I think so fast 'twill end right soon: Verily then I think, that Guenevere,Made sad by dew and wind, and tree-barred moon, Did love me more than ever, was more dear"To me than ever, she would let me lie And kiss her feet, or, if I sat behind,Would drop her hand and arm most tenderly, And touch my mouth. And she would let me wind"Her hair around my neck, so that it fell Upon my red robe, strange in the twilightWith many unnamed colours, till the bell Of her mouth on my cheek sent a delight"Through all my ways of being; like the stroke Wherewith God threw all men upon the faceWhen he took Enoch, and when Enoch woke With a changed body in the happy place."Once, I remember, as I sat beside, She turn'd a little, and laid back her head,And slept upon my breast;I almost died In those night-watches with my love and dread."There lily-like she bow'd her head and slept, And I breathed low, and did not dare to move,But sat and quiver'd inwardly, thoughts crept, And frighten'd me with pulses of my Love."The stars shone out above the doubtful green Of her bodice, in the green sky overhead;Pale in the green sky were the stars I ween, Because the moon shone like a star she shed"When she dwelt up in heaven a while ago, And ruled all things but God: the night went on,The wind grew cold, and the white moon grew low, One hand had fallen down, and now lay on"My cold stiff palm; there were no colours then For near an hour, and I fell asleepIn spite of all my striving, even when I held her whose name-letters make me leap."I did not sleep long, feeling that in sleep I did some loved one wrong, so that the sunHad only just arisen from the deep Still land of colours, when before me one"Stood whom I knew, but scarcely dared to touch, She seemed to have changed so in the night;Moreover she held scarlet lilies, such As Maiden Margaret bears upon the light"Of the great church walls, natheless did I walk Through the fresh wet woods, and the wheat that morn,Touching her hair and hand and mouth, and talk Of love we held, nigh hid among the corn."Back to the palace, ere the sun grew high, We went, and in a cool green room all dayI gazed upon the arras giddily, Where the wind set the silken kings a-sway."I could not hold her hand, or see her face; For which may God forgive me! but I think,Howsoever, that she was not in that place." These memories Launcelot was quick to drink;And when these fell, some paces past the wall, There rose yet others, but they wearied more,And tasted not so sweet; they did not fall So soon, but vaguely wrenched his strained heart soreIn shadowy slipping from his grasp: these gone, A longing followed; if he might but touchThat Guenevere at once! Still night, the lone Grey horse's head before him vex'd him much,In steady nodding over the grey road: Still night, and night, and night, and emptied heartOf any stories; what a dismal load Time grew at last, yea, when the night did part,And let the sun flame over all, still there The horse's grey ears turn'd this way and that,And still he watch'd them twitching in the glare Of the morning sun, behind them still he sat,Quite wearied out with all the wretched night, Until about the dustiest of the day,On the last down's brow he drew his rein in sight Of the Glastonbury roofs that choke the way.And he was now quite giddy as before, When she slept by him, tired out, and her hairWas mingled with the rushes on the floor, And he, being tired too, was scarce awareOf her presence; yet as he sat and gazed, A shiver ran throughout him, and his breathCame slower, he seem'd suddenly amazed, As though he had not heard of Arthur's death.This for a moment only, presently He rode on giddy still, until he reach'dA place of apple-trees, by the thorn-tree Wherefrom St. Joseph in the days past preached.Dazed there he laid his head upon a tomb, Not knowing it was Arthur's, at which sightOne of her maidens told her, "He is come," And she went forth to meet him; yet a blightHad settled on her, all her robes were black, With a long white veil only; she went slow,As one walks to be slain, her eyes did lack Half her old glory, yea, alas! the glowHad left her face and hands; this was because As she lay last night on her purple bed,Wishing for morning, grudging every pause Of the palace clocks, until thatLauncelot's headShould lie on her breast, with all her golden hair Each side: when suddenly the thing grew drear,In morning twilight, when the grey downs bare Grew into lumps of sin to Guenevere.At first she said no word, but lay quite still, Only her mouth was open, and her eyesGazed wretchedly about from hill to hill; As though she asked, not with so much surpriseAs tired disgust, what made them stand up there So cold and grey. After, a spasm tookHer face, and all her frame, she caught her hair, All her hair, in both hands, terribly she shook,And rose till she was sitting in the bed, Set her teeth hard, and shut her eyes and seem'dAs though she would have torn it from her head, Natheless she dropp'd it, lay down, as she deem'dIt matter'd not whatever she might do: O Lord Christ! pity on her ghastly face!Those dismal hours while the cloudless blue Drew the sun higher:He did give her grace;Because at last she rose up from her bed, And put her raiment on, and knelt beforeThe blessed rood, and with her dry lips said, Muttering the words against the marble floor:"Unless you pardon, what shall I do, Lord, But go to hell? and there see day by dayFoul deed on deed, hear foulest word on word, For ever and ever, such as on the way"To Camelot I heard once from a churl, That curled me up upon my jennet's neckWith bitter shame; how then, Lord, should I curl For ages and for ages? dost thou reck"That I am beautiful,Lord, even as you And your dear mother? why did I forgetYou were so beautiful, and good, and true, That you loved me so,Guenevere? O yet"If even I go to hell,I cannot choose But love you,Christ, yea, though I cannot keepFrom loving Launcelot;O Christ! must I lose My own heart's love? see, though I cannot weep,"Yet am I very sorry for my sin; Moreover,Christ,I cannot bear that hell,I am most fain to love you, and to win A place in heaven some time:I cannot tell:"Speak to me, Christ! I kiss, kiss, kiss your feet; Ah! now I weep!" The maid said,"By the tombHe waiteth for you, lady," coming fleet, Not knowing what woe filled up all the room.So Guenevere rose and went to meet him there, He did not hear her coming, as he layOn Arthur's head, till some of her long hair Brush'd on the new-cut stone:"Well done! to pray"For Arthur, my dear Lord, the greatest king That ever lived." "Guenevere! Guenevere!Do you not know me, are you gone mad? fling Your arms and hair about me, lest I fear"You are not Guenevere, but some other thing." "Pray you forgive me, fair lord Launcelot!I am not mad, but I am sick; they cling, God's curses, unto such as I am; not"Ever again shall we twine arms and lips." "Yea, she is mad: thy heavy law,O Lord,Is very tight about her now, and grips Her poor heart, so that no right word"Can reach her mouth; so, Lord, forgive her now, That she not knowing what she does, being mad,Kills me in this way: Guenevere, bend low And kiss me once! for God's love kiss me! sad"Though your face is, you look much kinder now; Yea once, once for the last time kiss me, lest I die.""Christ! my hot lips are very near his brow, Help me to save his soul! Yea, verily,"Across my husband's head, fair Launcelot! Fair serpent mark'd with V upon the head!This thing we did while yet he was alive, Why not,O twisting knight, now he is dead?"Yea, shake! shake now and shiver! if you can Remember anything for agony,Pray you remember how when the wind ran One cool spring evening through fair aspen-tree,"And elm and oak about the palace there The king came back from battle, and I stoodTo meet him, with my ladies, on the stair, My face made beautiful with my young blood.""Will she lie now, Lord God?" "Remember too, Wrung heart, how first before the knights there cameA royal bier, hung round with green and blue, About it shone great tapers with sick flame."And thereupon Lucius, the Emperor, Lay royal-robed, but stone-cold now and dead,Not able to hold sword or sceptre more, But not quite grim; because his cloven head"Bore no marks now of Launcelot's bitter sword, Being by embalmers deftly solder'd up;So still it seem'd the face of a great lord, Being mended as a craftsman mends a cup."Also the heralds sung rejoicingly To their long trumpets;'Fallen under shield,Here lieth Lucius, King of Italy, Slain by Lord Launcelot in open field.'"Thereat the people shouted:'Launcelot!' And through the spears I saw you drawing nigh,You and Lord Arthur: nay, I saw you not, But rather Arthur,God would not let die,"I hoped, these many years; he should grow great, And in his great arms still encircle me,Kissing my face, half blinded with the heat Of king's love for the queen I used to be."Launcelot, Launcelot, why did he take your hand, When he had kissed me in his kingly way?Saying: 'This is the knight whom all the land Calls Arthur's banner, sword, and shield to-day;"'Cherish him, love.' Why did your long lips cleave In such strange way unto my fingers then?So eagerly glad to kiss, so loath to leave When you rose up? Why among helmed men"Could I always tell you by your long strong arms, And sway like an angel's in your saddle there?Why sicken'd I so often with alarms Over the tilt-yard? Why were you more fair"Than aspens in the autumn at their best? Why did you fill all lands with your great fame,So that Breuse even, as he rode, fear'd lest At turning of the way your shield should flame?"Was it nought then, my agony and strife? When as day passed by day, year after year,I found I could not live a righteous life! Didst ever think queens held their truth for dear?"O, but your lips say:'Yea, but she was cold Sometimes, always uncertain as the spring;When I was sad she would be overbold, Longing for kisses. When war-bells did ring,"'The back-toll'd bells of noisy Camelot.'" "Now, Lord God, listen! listen,Guenevere,Though I am weak just now, I think there's not A man who dares to say: 'You hated her,"'And left her moaning while you fought your fill In the daisied meadows!' lo you her thin hand,That on the carven stone can not keep still, Because she loves me against God's command,"Has often been quite wet with tear on tear, Tears Launcelot keeps somewhere, surely notIn his own heart, perhaps in Heaven, where He will not be these ages." "Launcelot!"Loud lips, wrung heart! I say when the bells rang, The noisy back-toll'd bells of Camelot,There were two spots on earth, the thrushes sang In the lonely gardens where my love was not,"Where I was almost weeping;I dared not Weep quite in those days, lest one maid should say,In tittering whispers:'Where is Launcelot To wipe with some kerchief those tears away?'"Another answer sharply with brows knit, And warning hand up, scarcely lower though:'You speak too loud, see you, she heareth it, This tigress fair has claws, as I well know,"'As Launcelot knows too, the poor knight! well-a-day! Why met he not with Iseult from the West,Or better still,Iseult of Brittany? Perchance indeed quite ladyless were best.'"Alas, my maids, you loved not overmuch Queen Guenevere, uncertain as sunshineIn March; forgive me! for my sin being such, About my whole life, all my deeds did twine,"Made me quite wicked; as I found out then, I think; in the lonely palace where each mornWe went, my maids and I, to say prayers when They sang mass in the chapel on the lawn."And every morn I scarce could pray at all, For Launcelot's red-golden hair would play,Instead of sunlight, on the painted wall, Mingled with dreams of what the priest did say;"Grim curses out of Peter and of Paul; Judging of strange sins in Leviticus;Another sort of writing on the wall, Scored deep across the painted heads of us."Christ sitting with the woman at the well, And Mary Magdalen repenting there,Her dimmed eyes scorch'd and red at sight of hell So hardly 'scaped, no gold light on her hair."And if the priest said anything that seemed To touch upon the sin they said we did,(This in their teeth) they looked as if they deem'd That I was spying what thoughts might be hid"Under green-cover'd bosoms, heaving quick Beneath quick thoughts; while they grew red with shame,And gazed down at their feet: while I felt sick, And almost shriek'd if one should call my name."The thrushes sang in the lone garden there: But where you were the birds were scared I trow:Clanging of arms about pavilions fair, Mixed with the knights' laughs; there, as I well know,"Rode Launcelot, the king of all the band, And scowling Gauwaine, like the night in day,And handsome Gareth, with his great white hand Curl'd round the helm-crest, ere he join'd the fray;"And merry Dinadan with sharp dark face, All true knights loved to see; and in the fightGreat Tristram, and though helmed you could trace In all his bearing the frank noble knight;"And by him Palomydes, helmet off, He fought, his face brush'd by his hair,Red heavy swinging hair; he fear'd a scoff So overmuch, though what true knight would dare"To mock that face, fretted with useless care, And bitter useless striving after love?O Palomydes, with much honour bear Beast Glatysaunt upon your shield, above"Your helm that hides the swinging of your hair, And think of Iseult, as your sword drives throughMuch mail and plate:O God, let me be there A little time, as I was long ago!"Because stout Gareth lets his spear fall low, Gauwaine and Launcelot, and DinadanAre helm'd and waiting; let the trumpets go! Bend over, ladies, to see all you can!"Clench teeth, dames, yea, clasp hands, for Gareth's spear Throws Kay from out his saddle, like a stoneFrom a castle-window when the foe draws near: 'Iseult!'Sir Dinadan rolleth overthrown."'Iseult!' again: the pieces of each spear Fly fathoms up, and both the great steeds reel;'Tristram for Iseult!' 'Iseult!' and 'Guenevere!' The ladies' names bite verily like steel."They bite: bite me, Lord God! I shall go mad, Or else die kissing him, he is so pale,He thinks me mad already,O bad! bad! Let me lie down a little while and wail.""No longer so, rise up,I pray you, love, And slay me really, then we shall be heal'd,Perchance, in the aftertime by God above." "Banner of Arthur, with black-bended shield"Sinister-wise across the fair gold ground! Here let me tell you what a knight you are,O sword and shield of Arthur! you are found A crooked sword, I think, that leaves a scar"On the bearer's arm, so be he thinks it straight, Twisted Malay's crease beautiful blue-grey,Poison'd with sweet fruit; as he found too late, My husband Arthur, on some bitter day!"O sickle cutting hemlock the day long! That the husbandman across his shoulder hangs,And, going homeward about evensong, Dies the next morning, struck through by the fangs!"Banner, and sword, and shield, you dare not die, Lest you meet Arthur in the other world,And, knowing who you are, he pass you by, Taking short turns that he may watch you curl'd,"Body and face and limbs in agony, Lest he weep presently and go away,Saying: 'I loved him once,' with a sad sigh, Now I have slain him, Lord, let me go too,I pray. [Launcelot falls."Alas! alas! I know not what to do, If I run fast it is perchance thatIMay fall and stun myself, much better so, Never, never again! not even when I die."LAUNCELOT, on awaking."I stretch'd my hands towards her and fell down, How long I lay in swoon I cannot tell:My head and hands were bleeding from the stone, When I rose up, also I heard a bell."

William Morris: King Arthur's Tomb

William Morris's "King Arthur's Tomb" continues the dramatic situation established in "The Defence of Guenevere." The poem opens in the season of "hot August noon" suggesting a shift away from the young and innocent love associated with springtime and a movement towards a more reflective and mature love associated with autumn and winter. As he rides towards Glastonbury at the beginning of the poem, Launcelot's dazed and confused state of mind contrasts with Guenevere's sharp intellect which enables her to delay her execution in "The Defence of Guenevere." As in "The Defence of Guenevere" when she uses her own beauty to argue her innocence, Guenevere in this poem calls attention to her beauty as the reason Christ should give her grace: "...dost thou reck / 'That I am beautiful, Lord, even as you / And your dear Mother?" (168-171)Launcelot appears lost in a reverie of past glories such as "how Sir Gareth ran / A good course that day under my Queen's eyes," and refuses to acknowledge that his sins have caused the downfall of an empire. Despite her adultery, Sir Lancelot compares Guenevere to the Virgin Mary: When She dwelt upon heaven a while ago, / And ruled all things but God" (65-66 ). Launcelot continues to live in a romantic fantasy world that is now in the past and does not appear to feel any guilt or responsibility for his deeds. Launcelot's memory of how Guenevere would "let (him) lie / And kiss her feet" contrasts with the moment when Guenevere expresses deep contrition for her sins and kisses Christ's feet in the gesture of Mary Magdalene: "'Speak to me, Christ! I kiss, kiss, kiss your feet" (181). Whereas Guenevere has already reflected on the consequences of carnal love and turned to spiritual love as a source of redemption, Launcelot still clings to the idea of earthly, romantic passion. At Arthur's tomb which he at first fails to recognize, Launcelot asks Guenevere to "fling / Your arms and hair about me" (191-192). During their encounter at Arthur's tomb Guenevere remains cold and harsh and repeatedly renounces him. She wants to save him from damnation by causing him to feel guilt and shame instead of lust: "'Christ! my hot lips are very near his brow, / Help me to save his soul! (207-208). In the final scene of the poem, the symbolic stigmatic wounds suggest that Launcelot has been converted to a new moral awareness. Also, the image of Launcelot lying "in a swoon" recalls the deposition from the cross: "How long I lay in swoon I cannot tell: / My head and hands were bleeding from the stone" (395-396).Questions1. What is the effect of having stage directions in the poem: "(Launcelot falls)" and "Launcelot on waking"? What does Guenevere mean when she says, "Now I have slain him" (388)? Does Launcelot need to symbolically die in order to be reborn?2. How does Morris contrast the personalities and moral characters of Guenevere and Launcelot?3. How do Guenevere's rhetorical strategies in this poem compare with the ones she uses in "The Defence of Guenevere"?4. What is Morris's mission in writing his own version of this medieval tale? Does the narrator want us to sympathize with these figures?5. In what ways does Morris's "King Arthur's Tomb" resemble Swinburne's "Laus Veneris"? Which poem saw publication first?

Confession and Obsession in "King Arthur's Tomb by William Morris

Launcelot and Guenevere recount the history of their affair, on the occasion of Arthur's death. First the knight and then his mistress reminisce about their early encounters and transgressions in long monologues. Launcelot dwells on memories of physical things, like the queen's hair and the way she "Would drop her hand and arm most tenderly, And touch [his] mouth." Guenevere is more preoccupied with the sinful nature of the relationship. Her thoughts cycle from memories of her beloved to memories of her husband to prayers to heaven. Both monologues in the poem cycle in this way. Launcelot's thoughts always revolve around Guenevere and Guenevere's revolve around the dual subjects of Launcelot and her own sin.Much of this poem resembles "stream of consciousness" writing, especially when Guenevere flits rapidly from one subject to another. At times she speaks of some image or memory with personal associations the reader can only partially understand. This will inspire some rumination on her love or sin, or perhaps lead abruptly to an address to Launcelot or God. For example:'They bite — bite me, Lord God! — I shall go mad, Or else die kissing him, he is so pale,He thinks me mad already, O bad! bad! Let me lie down a little while and wail.''No longer so, rise up, I pray you, love, And slay me realiy, then we shall be heal'd,Perchance, in the aftertime by God above.' 'Banner of Arthur — with black-bended shield'Sinister-wise across the fair gold ground! Here let me tell you what a knight you are, 370O sword and shield of Arthur! you are found A crooked sword, I think, that leaves a scar'On the bearer's arm, so be he thinks it straight, Twisted Malay's crease beautiful blue-grey,Poison'd with sweet fruit; as he found too late, My husband Arthur, on some bitter day!In this short passage, Guenevere speaks to Launcelot, her dead husband, God, and herself while mentioning numerous images and metaphors. It is hard to discern where one train of thought ends and another begins. The form of the poem makes it especially difficult to divide and pick apart. Sentences frequently flow across many lines and often two stanzas are linked by a split sentence or phrase. The reader must follow each monologue through to its end, caught up in the rush of unchecked ideas and emotions of the speaker.Questions1. At the end of the poem, Guenevere exclaims, "Now I have slain him." Both Arthur and Launcelot appear in the previous stanzas. To whom does Guenevere refer?2. Guenevere repeatedly confuses her feelings for Launcelot with her feelings for Arthur, perhaps blaming her husband in part for inspiring her adulterous feelings for the knight. She says, in lines 45-49, "Launcelot, Launcelot, why did he take your hand, When he had kissed me in his kingly way? Saying, 'This is the knight whom all the land Calls Arthur's banner, sword, and shield to-day Cherish him, love.'" How does Guenevere resist responsibility for her actions elsewhere in the poem? Is her repentance complete?3. What is the function of the first three stanzas? How does Morris want to present Launcelot? Why?4.How does the Guenevere of "King Arthur's Tomb" differ from the Guenevere of "The Defense of Guenevere"?

In Arthur's House by William Morris

In Arthur's house whileome was IWhen happily the time went byIn midmost glory of his days.He held his court then in a placeWhereof ye shall not find the nameIn any story of his fame:Caerliel good sooth men called it not,Nor London Town, nor Camelot;Yet therein had we bliss enow.--Ah, far off was the overthrowOf all that Britain praised and loved;And though among us lightly movedA love that could but lead to death,Smooth-skinned he seemed, of rosy breath,A fear to sting a lady's lip,No ruin of goodly fellowship,No shame and death of all things good.Forgive the old carle's babbling mood;As here I sit grey-haired and old,My life gone as a story told,Ye bid me tell a story too;And then the evil days and few,That yet were overlong for meRise up so clear I may not seeThe pictures of my minstrel lore.Well hearken! on a day of yoreFrom prime of morn the court did rideAmid most of the summertideTo search the dwellings of the deerUntil the heat of noon was near;Then slackening speed awhile they wentAdown a ragged thorn-bushed bentAt whose feet grew a tangled woodOf oak and holly nowise good:But therethrough with some pain indeedAnd rending of the ladies' weedThey won at last, and after foundA space of green-sward grown aroundBy oak and holly set full close;And in the midst of it aroseTwo goodly sycamores that madeA wide and little sun-pierced shadeAbout their high boles straight and green:A fount was new-born there-between,And running on as clear as glass,Flowed winding on amid the grassUntil the thick wood swallowed it.A place for happy folk to sitWhile the hot day grew hotter stillTill eve began to work his will.--So might those happy people thinkWho grudged to see the red sun sinkAnd end another day of blissAlthough no joy tomorn should miss --They laughed for joy as they drew nighThe shade and fount: but lo, therebyA man beside the fountain laidThe while his horse 'twixt sun and shadeCropped the sweet grass: but little careHad these of guile or giant's lair,And scarce a foot before the QueenRode Gawain o'er the daisied greenTo see what man his pleasure took;Who rose up in meanwhile and shookHis tangled hair aback, as oneWho e'en but now his sleep hath done.Rough-head and yellow-haired was heGreat-eyed, as folk have told to me,And big and stout enow of limb:As one who thinks no harm he smiled,And cried out:"Well met in the wild,Fair King and Queen; and ye withalSweet dames and damsels!Well befalThis day, whereon I see thee nigh,O Lancelot, before I die!And surely shall my heart rejoiceSir Gawain, when I hear thy voice!"Then Lancelot laughed:"Thou knowest us thenFull well among a many men?""As quoth the lion to the mouse,"The man said; "in King Arthur's HouseMen are not names of men alone,But coffers rather of deeds done."The Queen smiled blithe of heart, and spake:"Hast thou done deeds for ladies' sake?""Nay Dame," he said, "I am but young;A little have I lived and sungAnd seen thy face this happy noon."The King said: "May we hearken soonSome merry tale of thee? forIAm skilled to know men low and highAnd deem thee neither churl nor fool."Said he, "My fathers went to schoolWhere folk are taught a many things,But not by bliss: men called them kingsIn days when kings were near to seek;But as a long thread waxeth weak,So is it with our house; and nowI wend me home from oaken boughUnto a stead where roof and wallShall not have over far to fallWhen their last day comes."As he spakeHe reddened:"Nathless for their sake,Whom the world loved once, mock not meO King, if thence I bring to theeA morsel and a draught of wine,Though nothing king-like here thou dine."Of some kind word King Arthur thought,But ere he spake the woodman caughtHis forest-nag and leapt thereon,And through the tangled brake was gone.Then leapt the King down, glad at heart,Thinking,This day shall not departWithout some voice from days that were;And lightly leapt down Guenevere,And man and maid lay presentlyNeath the bee-laden branches high,And sweet the scent of trodden grassAmid the blossoms' perfume was.There long they lay, and little spake,As folk right loth the calm to break;Till lo upon the forest-breezeA noise of folk, and from the treesThey came: the first-seen forester,A grizzled carle in such-like gear,And then two maidens poorly cladThough each a silver chaplet hadAnd round her neck a golden chain:And last two varlets led a wainDrawn by white oxen well bedightWith oaken boughs and lilies white;Therein there lay a cask of wineAnd baskets piled with bread full fine,And flesh of hart and roe and hare;And in the midst upon a chairDone over with a cloth of goldThere sat a man exceeding oldWith long white locks: and clad was heNo other than his companySave that a golden crown he boreFull fairly fashioned as of yore,And with a sword was girt aboutSuch as few folk will see I doubt.Right great it was: the scabbard thinWas fashioned of a serpent's skin,In every scale a stone of worth;Of tooth of sea-lion of the northThe cross was, and the blood-boot stoneThat heals the hurt the blade hath doneHung down therefrom in silken purse:The ruddy kin of Niblung's curseO'er tresses of a sea-wife's hairWas wrapped about the handle fair;And last a marvellous sapphire stoneAmidst of the great pommel shone,A blue flame in the forest green.And Arthur deemed he ne'er had seenSo fair a sword: nay not when heThe wonder of the land-locked seaDrew from the stone that Christmas-tide.Now forth the forest youth did ride,Leapt down beside the King, and spake:"King Arthur for thy greatness' sakeMy grandsire comes to look on thee;My father standeth here by me;These maidens are my sisters twain;My brethren draw out from the wainSomewhat thy woodland cheer to mend."Thereat his sire the knee did bendBefore the King, who o'er the brownRough sleeve of the man's homespun gownBeheld a goodly golden ring:And fell to greater marvellingWhen he beheld how fine and fairThe woodman's kneeling sisters were.And all folk thereby deemed in soothThat (save indeed the first seen youth)These folk were nobler e'en than thoseOf Arthur's wonder of a house.But now the elder drew anigh,By half a head was he more highThan Arthur or than Lancelot,Nor had eld bent him: he kneeled notBefore the King, but smiling tookHis hands in hands that nowise shook;And the King joyed as he who seesOne of his fathers' imagesStand glad before him in a dream.Then down beside the bubbling streamThey sat together, and the KingWas loth to fall a questioning;So first the elder spake and said:"It joys me of thy goodliheadO great king of our land; and thoughOur blood within thee doth not flow,And I who was a king of yoreMay scarcely kneel thy feet before,Yet do I deem thy right the bestOf all the kings who rule the West.I love thy name and fame: behold,King Arthur, I am grown so oldIn guilelessness, the Gods have sent,Be I content or uncontent,This gift unto my latter daysThat I may see as through a hazeThe lives and deeds of days to come:I laugh for some, I weep for some --I neither laugh nor weep for thee,But trembling through the clouds I seeThy life and glory to the end;And how the sweet and bitter blendWithin the cup that thou must drink.Good is it that thou shalt not shrinkFrom either: that the afterdaysShall still win glory from thy praiseAnd scarce believe thee laid asleepWhen o'er thy deeds the days lie deep."He ceased but his old lips moved still,As though they would the tale fulfilHis heart kept secret: Arthur's eyesGleamed with the pride that needs would riseUp from his heart, and low he said:"I know the living by the deadI know the future by the past."Wise eyes and kind the elder castUpon him; while a nameless fearSmote to the heart of Guenevere,And, fainting there, was turned to love:And thence a nameless pain did moveThe noble heart of Lancelot,The store of longing unforgot.-- And west a little moved the sunAnd noon began, and noon was done.But as the elder's grey eyes turnedOn Guenevere's, her sweet face burnedWith sweet shame; as though she knewHe read her story through and through.Kindly he looked on her and said:"O Queen, the chief of goodlihead,Be blithe and glad this day at leastWhen in my fathers' house ye feast:For surely in their ancient hallYe sit now: look, there went the wallWhere yon turf ridge runs west-away:Time was I heard my grand-dame sayShe saw this stream run bubbling downThe hall-floor shut in trench of stone;Therein she washed her father's cupThat last eve e'er the fire went upO'er ridge and rafter and she passedBetwixt the foeman's spears the lastOf all the women, wrapping roundThis sword the gift of Odin's ground."He shook the weapon o'er his knee,Thereon gazed Arthur eagerly."Draw it, my lord," quoth Guenevere,"Of such things have we little fearIn Arthur's house."And Lancelot roseTo look upon the treasure close.But grimly smiled the ancient man:"E'en as the sun arising wanIn the black sky when Heimdall's hornScreams out and the last day is born,This blade to eyes of men shall beOn that dread day I shall not see --"Fierce was his old face for a while:But once again he 'gan to smileAnd took the Queen's slim lily handAnd set it on the deadly brandThen laughed and said: "Hold this, O Queen,Thine hand is where God's hands have been,For this is Tyrfing: who knows whenHis blade was forged?Belike ere menHad dwelling on the middle-earth.At least a man's life is it worthTo draw it out once: so beholdThese peace-strings wrought of pearl and goldThe scabbard to the cross that bindLest a rash hand and heart made blindShould draw it forth unwittingly."Blithe laughed King Arthur: "Sir," said he,"We well may deem in days by goneThis sword, the blade of such an oneAs thou hast been, would seldom slideBack to its sheath unsatisfied.Lo now how fair a feast thy kinHave dight for us and might we winSome tale of thee in Tyrfing's praise,Some deed he wrought in greener days,This were a blithesome hour indeed.""Sir," said the elder, "little needTo pray me hereof.Please ye dineAnd drink a cup of woodman's wine,Surely meantime some tale shall stirWithin my heart of days that were."Then to their meat they gat and thereFeasted amid the woodland fairThe fairest folk of all the land.Ah me when first the Queen's fair handDrew near the kneeling forest youthNew-wrought the whole world seemed in soothAnd nothing left therein of ill.So at the last the Queen did fillA cup of wine, and drank and said:"In memory of thy fathers deadI drink, fair lord, drink now with meAnd then bethink thee presentlyOf deeds that once won prize and praiseThe glory of thy fathers' days."He drank and laughed and said," Nay, nay,Keep we the peace-strings whole today.This draught from where thy lips have beenWithin mine old heart maketh greenThe memory of a love full true,The first recorded deed that drewMy fathers' house from dark to light.If thus my grandame told aright,A rougher place our land was then,Quoth she, than with us living men,And other trees were in the woodAnd folk of somewhat other bloodThan ours: then were the small-eyed bearsMore plenty in the woodland lairsThan badgers now: no holidayIt was to chase the wolves away,Yea there were folk who had to tellOf lyngworms lying on the fell,And fearful things by lake and fen,And manlike shapes that were not men.Then fay-folk roamed the woods at noon,And on the grave-mound in the moonFaint gleamed the flickering treasure-flame.Days of the world that won no fame,Yet now, quoth she, folk looking backAcross the tumult and the wrackAnd swelling up of windy liesAnd dull fool-fashioned cruelties,Deem that in those days God abodeOn earth and shared ill times and goodAnd right and wrong with that same folkTheir hands had fashioned for the yoke.Quoth she, of such nought tells my tale,Yet saith that such as should prevailIn those days o'er the fears of earthMust needs have been some deal of worth,And saith that had ye seen a kinWho dwelt these very woods withinThem at the least ye would have toldFor cousins of the Gods of old.Amongst all these it tells of one,The goodman's last-begotten son,Some twenty summers old: as fairAs any flower that blossomed thereIn sun and rain, and strong therewithAnd lissom as a willow withe.Now through these woods amidst of JuneThis youngling went until at noonFrom out of the thicket his fair facePeered forth upon this very place;For he had been a-hunting nighAnd wearied thought a while to lieBeside the freshness of the stream.But lo as in a morning dreamThe place was changed, for there was dightA fair pavilion blue and whiteE'en where we play, and all aroundWas talk of men and diverse sound,Tinkling of bit and neigh of steedClashing of arms and iron weed.For round about the painted tentArmed folk a many came or went,Or on the fresh grass lay about.Surely our youth at first had doubtIf 'twere not better to be goneThan meet these stranger folk alone --But wot ye well such things as theseWere new to him born mid the treesAnd wild things: and he thought, MaybeThe household of the Gods I see:Who for as many tales as IHave heard of them,I ne'er saw nigh.If they be men,I wotted notThat such fair raiment men had got;They will be glad to show them then.For one thing taught these woodland menWhatever wisdom they let fallMen since have wonFear nought at all.So from the holly brake he strodeShouldering the while his hunter's load,A new slain roe; but there aroseTo meet him half a score of thoseWhom in fair words he greeted well.Now was he clad in a sheep's fellAnd at his back his quiver hung,His woodknife on his thigh: unstrungHis bow he held in a staff's stead.An oaken wreath was round his headFrom whence his crispy locks of brownWell nigh unto his belt hung down,And howso frank his eyes might beA half-frown soothly might you seeAs these men handled sword or spearAnd cried out,"Hold, what dost thou here?""Ah," said he, "then no Gods ye are.Fear not, I shall not make you war."Therewith his hunting-knife he drewAnd the long blade before them he threw.Then loud they laughed; one sheathed his sword:"Thanks, army-leader, for that word!We are not Gods e'en as thou say'st,Nor thou a devil of the wasteBut e'en a devil's a friend belike."Something [of] hate hereat did strikeUnto the woodsman's unused heart,Yet he spake softly for his part:"What men are ye and where dwell ye?What is the wondrous house I see?""In the fair southland is our homeYet from the north as now we come,"Said one: then with a mocking smile,"And in our house there dwells awhileA very Goddess of the north.But lo you, take a thing of worthFor that thy quarry, and begone."But as he spake another oneSpake softly in his ear: and soThe word from this to that did go,With laughing that seemed nowise goodUnto the dweller of the wood,Who saying nought moved toward the tent.But they came round him as he wentAnd said:"Nay, pagan, stay thy feet;Thou art not one our dame to greet

Burn Jones: The Last Sleep of Arthur in Avalon

death of Arthur

The Lady of the Lake by Sir Walter Scott

Excerpts From The Lady of the LakeCANTO SECOND - THE ISLAND Part ii Hail to the chief who in triumph advances!Honoured and blessed be the ever-green pine!Long may the tree in his banner that glances,Flourish the shelter and grace of our line!Heaven send it happy dew,Earth lend it sap anew;Gaily to burgeon, and broadly to grow,While every Highland glenSends our shout back agen,Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!Ours is no sapling, chance-sown by the fountain,Blooming at Beltane,*** in winter to fade;When the whirlwind has stripped every leaf on the mountain,The more shallClan Alpine exult in her shade.Moored on the rifted rock,Proof to the tempest's shock,Firmer he roots him the ruder it blow;Menteith and Breadalbane, thenEcho his praise agen,Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!

Proudly our pibroch has thrilled in Glen Fruin,And Banochar's groans to our slogan replied:Glen Luss and Ross-dhu, they are smoking in ruin,And the best of Loch-Lomond lie dead on her side.Widow and Saxon maid,Long shall lament our raid,Think of Glen-Alpine with fear and with woe;Lennox and Leven-glenShake when they hear agen,Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!

Row, vassals, row, for the pride of the Highlands!Stretch to your oars, for the ever-green pine!O! that the rosebud that graces yon islands,Were wreathed in a garland around him to twine!O that some seedling gemWorthy such noble stem,Honoured and blessed in their shadow might grow!Loud shouldClan Alpine thenRing from her deepmost glen,Roderigh Vich Alpine dhu, ho! ieroe!

CANTO THIRD - THE GATHERING Part iiThe heath this night must be my bed, The bracken curtain for my head,My lullaby the warder's tread,Far, far from love and thee, MaryTo-morrow eve, more stilly laid,My couch may be my bloody plaid,My vesper song, thy wail, sweet maid!It will not waken me, Mary!I may not, dare not, fancy nowThe grief that clouds thy lovely brow;I dare not think upon thy vow,And all it promised me, Mary.No fond regret must Norman know;When burstsClan Alpine on the foe,His heart must be like bended bow,His foot like arrow free, Mary.A time will come with feeling fraught!For, if I fall in battle fought,Thy hapless lover's dying thoughtShall be a thought on thee, MaryAnd if returned from conquered foes,How blithely will the evening close,How sweet the linnet sing reposeTo my young bride and me, Mary.

Lady of the Lake

Galahad by Frederick Watts

Sir Galahad by Alfred Lord Tennyson

My good blade carves the casques of men,My tough lance thrusteth sure,My strength is as the strength of ten,Because my heart is pure.The shattering trumpet shrilleth high,The hard brands shiver on the steel,The splinter'd spear-shafts crack and fly,The horse and rider reel:They reel, they roll in clanging lists,And when the tide of combat stands,Perfume and flowers fall in showers,That lightly rain from ladies' hands.How sweet are looks that ladies bendOn whom their favours fall!From them I battle till the end,To save from shame and thrall:But all my heart is drawn above,My knees are bow'd in crypt and shrine:I never felt the kiss of love,Nor maiden's hand in mine.More bounteous aspects on me beam,Me mightier transports move and thrill;So keep I fair thro' faith and prayerA virgin heart in work and will.When down the stormy crescent goes,A light before me swims,Between dark stems the forest glows,I hear a noise of hymns:Then by some secret shrine I ride;I hear a voice but none are there;The stalls are void, the doors are wide,The tapers burning fair.Fair gleams the snowy altar-cloth,The silver vessels sparkle clean,The shrill bell rings, the censer swings,And solemn chaunts resound between.Sometime on lonely mountain-meresI find a magic bark;I leap on board: no helmsman steers:I float till all is dark.A gentle sound, an awful light!Three angels bear the holy Grail:With folded feet, in stoles of white,On sleeping wings they sail.Ah, blessed vision! blood of God!My spirit beats her mortal bars,As down dark tides the glory slides,And star-like mingles with the stars.When on my goodly charger borneThro' dreaming towns I go,The cock crows ere the Christmas morn,The streets are dumb with snow.The tempest crackles on the leads,And, ringing, springs from brand and mail;But o'er the dark a glory spreads,And gilds the driving hail.I leave the plain, I climb the height;No branchy thicket shelter yields;But blessed forms in whistling stormsFly o'er waste fens and windy fields.A maiden knight--to me is givenSuch hope,I know not fear;I yearn to breathe the airs of heavenThat often meet me here.I muse on joy that will not cease,Pure spaces clothed in living beams,Pure lilies of eternal peace,Whose odours haunt my dreams;And, stricken by an angel's hand,This mortal armour that I wear,This weight and size, this heart and eyes,Are touch'd, are turn'd to finest air.The clouds are broken in the sky,And thro' the mountain-wallsA rolling organ-harmonySwells up, and shakes and falls.Then move the trees, the copses nod,Wings flutter, voices hover clear:"O just and faithful knight of God!Ride on! the prize is near."So pass I hostel, hall, and grange;By bridge and ford, by park and pale,All-arm'd I ride, whate'er betide,Until I find the holy Grail.

Burn Jones: The Attainment of the Holy Grail

Percival

Sandys: Viviene

priestess

Burn Jones: Morgan

lady/ priestess/ witch/ goddess

The Beautiful Necessity

hair

Greek Hair Style

classic blonde

Articles: Hair

The Cult of Red Hair:Titian Red When thinking of the Pre-Raphaelite woman, why is it that naturally red tresses come to mind? Dante Gabrielle Rossetti inscribed “The mouth that has been kissed loses not its freshness; still it renews itself even as does the moon.” on the back of his painting, “Bocca Baciata”. The model that sat for this well-known Pre-Raphaelite piece was Fanny Cornforth, born Sarah Cox in the countryside surrounding London in 1824. To me, Fanny is the embodiment of the ideal redheaded woman. She left her life in the country far behind for the bustle and excitement of London. She was confident and outwardly sexual in life, with no qualms about her lifestyle as a prostitute, common yet controversial for the times among polite society. However it was not polite society she catered to (except of course in matters of business) but the company of Bohemians, artists young and full of vigor challenging the art movement of the times. 19th century London was a hive of social activity and historically it was the period of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, a brotherhood of painters, poets and critics who strongly reacted against established Victorian conventions of academic art by producing romantic, mythological works. Vivacious and louder than life, Fanny loved to indulge and befriend her young artist friends in return for favors and gifts. With their help, she was able to create a boarding house-come-brothel and made quite a nice living for herself in London, not to mention the notoriety she undoubtedly cultivated for herself there. She eventually took a fancy to Dante Rossetti. It’s rumored that she first got his attention by pelting the unsuspecting artist with peanuts in the Cremhorne Gardens. I like to imagine he saw in her loud red hair and her bawdy personality the epitome of a woman freed from all convention and inhibition. Little is known about Fanny. Information is scarce on her life, so she remains forever enigmatic as she does in so many of Rossetti’s paintings: a sexually realized woman full of mystery, unbound by the expectations of society. There is very little information about the relationship surviving to this day although it is known she remained Rossetti’s companion and housekeeper into old age. Although a remarkably more controversial model than Elizabeth Siddal or Jane Morris, Fanny was not only the subject of some of Dante’s most astonishing works but it seems she was “forgotten” before her time. She modeled for the painting of “Lady Lilith”, the first wife of Adam in Jewish mythology and seen as the personification of lust. “Sibylla Palmifera” was conceived as an opposing piece to “Lady Lilith” and painted from the model Alexa Wilding. It represented “Soul’s Beauty”, a sonnet Rossetti wrote to accompany his painting. The modestly dressed Sibyl sits in a temple surrounded by the emblems of Love: the Cupid, Death: the Skull, and Mystery: the Sphinx. In contrast, Lilith admires herself in a mirror, the attribute of vanity. Initially the contrast between the pictures was very marked, but in 1872-3 Rossetti replaced Fanny’s head with the head of Alexa at the request of a buyer, and the original concept was destroyed. She is the sumptuous and inviting woman in paintings such as the above mentioned “Bocca Botacia” and “Lady Lilith” as well as “The Blue Bower” and others. “The Blue Bower” was Rossetti’s last major portrait of Fanny Cornforth.

Red HairPeople with red hair are often referred to as redheads. Approximately 1% to 2% of the human population has red hair. It occurs more frequently (between 2% and 6% of the population) in northern and western Europeans, and their descendants, and at lower frequencies throughout other parts of Europe, Asia and AfricaSeveral accounts by Greek writers detail redheaded people. A fragment by the Greek poet Xenophanes describes the Thracians as blue-eyed and red haired. The Greek historian Herodotus described the "Budini", probably Udmurts and Permyak Finns located on the Volga in what is modern-day Russia, as being predominantly redheaded. The Greek historian Dio Cassius described Boudica, the famous Celtic Queen of the Iceni, to: "be tall and terrifying in appearance ... a great mass of red hair ... over her shoulders".The Roman Tacitus commented on the "red hair and large limbs of the inhabitants of Caledonia (Scotland)", which he linked with some red haired Gaulish tribes of Germanic and Belgic relation.Red hair has also been found in Asia, notably among the Tocharians who occupied the northwesternmost province of what is modern-day China. The 2nd millennium BC caucasian Tarim mummies in China were found with red and blonde hair and most likely were of European originToday, red hair is most commonly found at the western fringes of Europe; it is associated particularly with the people of the British Isles (although Victorian era ethnographers claimed that the Udmurt people of the Volga were "the most red-headed men in the world").Redheads constitute approximately four percent of the European population. Scotland has the highest proportion of redheads, as 13 percent of the population has red hair and approximately 40 percent carries the recessive redhead gene. Ireland has the second highest percentage; as many as 10 percent of the Irish population have red, auburn, or strawberry blond hair. It is thought that up to 46 percent of the Irish population carries the recessive redhead gene. Red hair reaches frequencies of up to 10 percent in Wales. In England, the county of Cornwall, the far north, near the Scottish border, and the counties of Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire also have significant proportions of redheads.In the United States, anywhere from two to six percent of the population is estimated to have red hair. This would give the U.S. the largest population of redheads in the world, at 6 to 18 million, compared to approximately 650,000 in Scotland and 420,000 in Ireland.Red or reddish-tinged hair is also found in other European populations particularly in the Nordic and Baltic countries as well as parts of the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain, Italy, Germany, Russia and South Slavic countries.The Berber populations of northern Algeria and Morocco have occasional redheads.In Asia, darker or mixed tinges of red hair can be found sporadically from Northern India, northern Middle East (such as Iran, Lebanon and the countries of the Levant) and in rare instances in Japan and the South Pacific. Red hair can be found amongst those of Iranian descent, such as the Pashtuns, Persians, Lurs & Nuristanis.In Argentina people with red hair also make up a portion of the population, due to British and Irish immigration during the late 19th and early 20th centuriesEsau's entire body is supposed to have been covered with red hair. King David is also known for having red hair, based on the description of his physical appearance as "admoni", the Biblical Hebrew word normally interpreted to mean 'ruddy' and/or 'red-haired' (1 Samuel 16-17).The name of the ancient kingdom of Rus Kievan Rus' SummaryKievan Rus' was the early, mostly East Slavic state dominated by the city of Kiev from about 880 to the middle of the 12th ... may have been derived from the local word for red hair.

Pre-French Revolution HairThe beginning of this era heralded a time of extravagance in hair for all who could afford it. Indeed, hairstyling reached its heights, in the truest sense of the word. By 1789, the English were introducing a widespread change toward the simplistic, but prior to this, the ladies of the French Court dictated fashion throughout Europe, and opulence was the order of the day. The amazing lengths these ladies went to, in order to out-do each other, became responsible for some of the most decadent excesses in hair styling and accessorizing in history. Hair truly became an art form; a sculpture requiring many stylists, assistants, and all sorts of tools, props and even ladders! Never were more incredible hairstyles accepted as the norm. Portraits and letters from this period show us such themes as spinning windmills and running brooks made from mirror shards. Clever ladies and their hairstylists dreamed up all kinds of astonishing fantasies. And these hairstyles were considered topical, current, and above all, massive. In the 1770’s the French stylist, Baulard, invented a headress “á la grand-mére”, complete with wire mesh and springs that could collapse a hairstyle a full foot, should the lady in question encounter an elderly family member who would faint at the sight of such a ludicrous wig. Imagination ran wild, and it seemed that almost everything was possible. The Princesse de Machin once had her own tresses wrapped around the bars of a birdcage containing live butterflies! Ribbons, artificial flowers, gauze, pears and other such demands elevated hair above and beyond two feet, three with feathers. In the time of Marie Antoinette, styles in architecture, landscaping and even current events were incorporated into these super structures. Entire gardens and ships on rolling waves could be found on ladies’ heads, making them monuments to ingenuity. Do not discount men in this scenario however, for they also went to many lengths to adorn themselves. In the Court of Louis XIV, men wore wigs called “periwigs”, and they were huge contraptions – high, full and draping over the shoulders. Even though no wires were used to construct these wigs, they were bigger overall than most women’s hair of this time. Forty full-time wigmakers lived at Versailles, and on any given day, hundreds of wigs would be pomaded, styled on hot irons, baked in huge ovens to set and then finally powdered. Yet, the Court ladies of Louis XIV were always the center of attention. Louis himself observed that “For the women of my court, hairstyle remains the most important thing. The subject is inexhaustible.” And it was. Circles of the elite were constantly inventing new flourishes that kept the irons hot – ringlets sat on “U” shaped wire, held to the head with pins, puffs of hair over mesh frames, never the same thing twice, if possible. The need to change constantly meant hair was not sewn or baked, and often ringlets would slip from wire frames, meaning a lady would have to step away to “re-wire”. Bonnets and decorative caps were acceptable, leaving one curl to cascade over the shoulder. Of course, a whole language developed concerning hair. “Confidants” were small curls at the ears, “créve-coeurs” or “heartbreakers” were curls at the nape. In Boursault’s comedy, “Les Mots la Mode”, he depicts this phenomenon through an enraged husband who finds what appears to be a very scandalous letter from another man on his wife’s dressing table. He is reassured by the daughter that the letter is a bill from the hairdresser. No wonder the man was confused when he read “note of expenses” in gallantry for a “somersault with a muscateer”, plus a “go-ahead” and a squeeze-me-all-over – 800 francs.”

Early Hairstyling of the Hellenistic Period in Ancient GreeceAround 90 B.C., the Greek poet Melanger wrote the following of his beloved: I shall plait white violets, I shall plait the soft narcissus, together with myrtle-berries and sweet crocus – so that the garland on the temple of Heliodora, with the perfumed curls shall wreathe with flowers her beautiful cascade of hair. The Golden Age of ancient Greece was a time of innovation, ideals, and perfection. Philosophers and mathematicians, politicians and aristocrats, poets and pioneers; this was the first model, bar Egyptian times, of a truly opulent, aristocratic society. This period in Grecian history not only innovated many forms of hairstyling to meet their exacting ideals, they created influences that are evident in modern times and continue to be recreated even to this day. As enduring as those influences are, they also provide oodles of inspiration for the willing Goth, wanting to experiment with true hair-dressing. Allow me to share an abbreviated history lesson. The fifth century B.C. is known as the Golden Age of Greek society. It inspired many ideals in the eyes of its citizens, such as the natural muscular form of males as perfection; so much so that women also strove to attain a well-proportioned muscular physique. But that was not the only marker of beauty; another important theme of this period was balance. Balance and its counterpart, symmetry, were considered the ultimate measuring sticks for beauty, and therefore the focus in all areas of art and architecture. Balance and symmetry was evidence of perfection, therefore both desirable and essential and was often found in the hairstyles of the day. Blonde hair was also thought of as an ideal, and in a time ruled by divinity, appearing to be god or goddess-like equaled superior social standing. This meant blonde hair was another necessity, and it was considered to signify purity, innocence, divinity, and sexual desirability. Consequently, the Greeks of this time depicted many of their deities as, more often than not, blondes. Blondes with great muscle tone. Ah yes, vanity in many guises was alive and well in ancient Greece. So to focus our history lesson on hair, let’s look at how these influences were behind some of the most romantic and enduring innovations in hair crafting. Overall, the different regions of ancient Greece created their own identities with different looks, influencing looks in hair-ware forever. Curly locks were a trademark hairstyle during this time, and is a look that has endured for many a century. No woman, or man, was complete unless their hair was styled into a perfectly balanced halo of tight curls, often, and especially in the case of the men, hugging the head. The hair they wore could easily identify the origin of aristocratic women of ancient Greece. Athenian women wore their hair in a chignon at the back of the crown or the nape of the neck, often secured by gold or ivory handcrafted hairpins. In Sparta, women preferred ponytails threaded with pearls and beads. Meanwhile, it was the women in Cyprus that invented some of the earliest types of hairpieces. Quite ingenious in design, they involved a single or several wire meshes extending from ear to ear, used to support and display spiral set locks. Often these were not their own, and the meshes also served the wearer to support other decorative touches. These were most commonly used to push the wearer’s hair forward, from the occipital bone up to the apex of the head, to build up height and the shape of the soft, elliptical designs that were so popular. This silhouette was to become the inspiration for later generations, such as the opulent hair crafting of pre-revolutionary France and their British counter parts. The driving inspiration behind all these early innovations in hairstyling was to appease their deities, for the beliefs of these ancients was the governing factor in all efforts of the time. In their desire to emulate their deities, both men and women in early Greece created some of the first innovations in hair coloring, in keeping with their reverence for blonde hair. In fact, some of the earliest documentation of hair lightening comes from this time. Before they discovered how to lighten their hair, men would sprinkle their hair with gold dust and pollen after styling, while women would wash their hair in a solution of potassium, yellow flower petals and pollen. In the 4th century B.C., a more permanent method was developed. First manufactured in Athens, men and women would rinse their hair in an ointment; the ingredients are long lost to antiquity, however I suspect citrus juices, potassium, gold flecks, olive oil and pollen. Then they would sit outside for what must have been hours to let sun’s rays bleach their hair naturally. However, various early concoctions were not predictable and there would have been more than a few patchy orange locks gracing society. The Greeks, like their ancient Egyptian counterparts, also wore dyed wigs of red, silver, and especially, gold. No small wonder there. Hairstyles were also never complete without some kind of adornment. These had to also abide by the laws of symmetry. And as they were creative in how they dressed and adorned themselves, they created many hairstyling trademarks that have been used extensively throughout history. For example, it was the ancient Greeks that created the first chignon: the bun or drape of hair most often held at the nape of the neck. The snood was also another Greek innovation, being ribbons, or a scarf, used to cradle and decorate a chignon. Sometimes these ribbons extended around the forehead, offering even more elaborate ornamentation, especially when flowers and precious gems were woven into them. The finishing touches also included a wreath of bay or laurel leaves worn around the head; these were commonly worn by men and was carried over into Roman times. Fresh and dried flowers and ribbons were more commonplace in women. The most common hair accessories were decorative, as well as also serving a logical, and often a structural function. Some of the most popular adornments were wreaths made of flowers, myrtle, ivy, scented oils and precious stones. Handmade ivory, gold and silver combs and clips as well as the earliest hair pins were created to secure these hair creations. Worn by both sexes, wreaths made with the above materials were often presented to guests at banquets and celebrations. These wreaths were not only decorative, but also gave the wearer a pleasant perfume that was an essential part of grooming. Decorating hair with flowers, jewels, ribbons or anything beautiful, interesting or unusual is a timeless art and still one of my favorite things today.

The Beautiful Necessity Pre-Raphaelite and Arts & Crafts.The two movements began during the Victorian era, and celebrated a return to the aesthetics and simplicity of medieval times, as well as the romance of nature and chivalry.The central tenants of the two movements are still very important today, perhaps even more so.Why were the Pre-Raphaelites so fascinated with a woman's hair? The answer seems obvious....a woman's hair has been considered "her glory" since Biblical days and before. However, further information on the role of a woman's hair in Victorian times gives even more insight into why the hair was such a romantic and erotic image in Pre-Raphaelite art. In a biography of Fannie Cornforth, author Kristy Walker says "Loose hair was seen rarely in Victorian society and had two connotations. A child could wear her hair down, but as soon as she aspired to be a woman, or more essentially a 'lady' her hair was strictly pinned up. To be seen loose-haired was a pleasure reserved for her husband, in the bedroom. It's not a coincidence that the act of pinning up hair is called 'dressing' hair..." This certainly explains the prevalence of Rossetti paintings of a woman at her toilet, combing or unbinding her hair, with a faraway look in her eyes, like the artwork of Fannie Cornforth above.Author Anne Hollander in her book Seeing through Clothes says "More than at any other time [Pre-Raphaelite] women's hair was important in the nineteenth century...with immediately erotic overtones and a strong connection with real life. Thick and abundant female hair safely conveyed a vivid sexual message in an atmosphere of extreme prudery....Pre-Raphaelite hair, like the Pre-Raphaelite face and body, was one of the truly original images invented by nineteenth-century art. The kinky, thick stuff weights the head and shades the face, as it is also heatedly described as doing in various kinds of Romantic literature. Lines such as Swinburne's "Thou shalt darken his eyes with thy tresses,/Our Lady of Pain" and many more in the same vein parallel the emotional and suggestive--though not so erotic--use of drapery in art."Often times, however, I've wondered...why is Pre-Raphaelite hair so often today called "Pre-Raphaelite curls"...especially when only one of the Stunners had naturally kinky curly hair (Jane Morris)? The term today seems to have come to mean 'curly spiralled hair in a nimbus around the head,' but more often in PR art, the hair when unbound was very softly waved from the plaits the women kept it in all day.A photo of Fannie Cornforth combing her incredible long Pre-Raphaelite locks.

So at what point did the term "Pre-Raphaelite curls" come into use? My suspicion is that, like so many modern expressions, it was created by commercialism in order to promote a style that could be only successfully achieved through assistance (i.e. paying for someone to style your hair that way), with a name that automatically conjured up romance and medievalism. In actuality, to achieve "Pre-Raphaelite hair" all one must do is braid one's hair when half dry, and let it dry before taking it down. That is, after all, what the original Pre-Raphaelite woman would do. Shhh...the commercial marketing specialists wouldn't want you to know that!Yes, I know I sound like a conspiracy theorist there. Either that or cynical. I swear I'm neither. I just think too much.There IS another solution, however, if your hair tends to not hold a wave when you try the braiding method. Thanks to modern technology, there's a tool called the triple barrel curling iron, a strange torture-device-looking contraption. This device truly works, however, giving Pre-Raphaelite waves to almost anyone who can start with a straight or semi-straight texture as a basis.Using a triple barrel curling iron is pretty foolproof...one just uses it like a crimping iron, down the length of a section of hair. It does, however, take time to "crimp" the entire hair...my mid-back length hair took about 2 hours.The bottom line is this...a woman's hair was once a sexual symbol only allowed to be shown to one's "husband" to whom one "belonged." We've advanced far beyond this attitude, but a woman's hair can still be considered extremely sexual. What better way to flaunt how far we've come than to show off your Pre-Raphaelite locks for all the world to see?

French Revolution Hair Style

wig

Dangerous Hair

Rossetti

Women of the Pre-Raphaelite Period

QuestionsWhy are these women attractive?Are they powerful or being possessed and caught within the frame?Do they represent Victorian women's positions (of being constrained, of being either angel or whore)?Or are they signs of liberation as the Sarah in The French Lieutenant's Woman represents at the end of the novel?Can you find contemporary counterparts to them?Definition of Pre-Raphaelite Painting: "The Pre-Raphaelites sought ...to restore to painting the naturalness and simplicity they insisted it has lost after Raphael by demonstrating in their own art the superiority of realism--freshly observed nature transferred to canvas--to timid emulation. anti-estalbishment the persistent ramantic-Victorian attachment to the Middle Ages. mixture of mysticism and "fleshlines" (i.e. sensuousness) especially in connection with female subjects. Pre-Raphaelitism revived in art the literary romanticism of half a century earlier. The movement was much indebted to Keats. . ." (Altick 288-90) "As artists, the women were less clearly successful than the male Pre-Raphaelite painters. As images, however, they dominate the scene. There are in fact three main types of Pre-Raphaelite 'stunner,' which correspond in part to the phases of Pre-Raphaelite art and in part to the ideas of feminity current in the Victorian age. I. The first and earliest type--the fair, demure, modest maiden with her innocent attractions (e..g. E. Siddal); II. the second--the proud golden beauty who might borrow a term from later 'sex goddesses' (e.g. Fanny Cornforth); III. the third--the dark, enigmatic Feminine (e.g. Jane Morris)" (Marsh pp. 27-28; underline, boldface & parentheses added). IV. The women's roles in "The Blessed Damosel modeled by jane morris"Around her,, lovers, newly met 'Mid deathless love's acclaims, Spoke evermore amongst themselves Their rapturous new names."La Pia De'Tolomei (story from Dante, about poor Pia, imprioned by a cruel husband in a fortress where she dies of despire and disease, Marsh 144-145) D.G. Rossetti, 1868-90.Photograph of Fanny Cornforth, 1863 W. and D. Downey ("Rossetti's meeting with Fanny altered [his view of prostitution as moral filth and contagion] and his poem 'Jenny' was a possible result of this revaluation" Marsh 84Fanny Cornforth--Originally a prostitute, Fanny "sat for many of Rossetti's 'vision of carnal loveliness'" (23)

Fazio's Mistress, 1863.D.G.Rossetti (loose, luxuriant hair was an emblem of female sexuality in Pre-Raphaelite painting...[Here] we may well have a clue to the rippling effect of so much Pre-Raphaelite hair. After washing, the tresses were plaited while still wet--as Fanny is shown doing--and then allowwed to dry, creating a naturally crimped look Marsh 23.)

Elizabeth SiddalAs a milliner's daughter, she lived under very limited circumstances when she met DGR. "Rossetti fell in love with the pale, red-haiired milliner and transformed her life by encouraging her own pursuit of art" (Marsh 21).Self Portrait, 1853-4 Elizabeth Siddal.Portrait of Elizabeth Siddal, 1854Dante Gabriel Rossetti, "...Beata Beatrix, inspired by DAnte's Vita Nuova and portraying the beloved at the moment of her transition from earth to heaven, was the artist's mourning tribute to his wife... [It] has always been interpreted as a strong if somewhat sentimental token of the artist's grief and guilt, .... It is, however, also a truly marcabre image, of the beloved woman at the moment of death, painted in the sensuous style of Rossetti's middle period, and its sense of necrophiliac longing is hard to evade" (Marsh 141-42). pay attention to the use of symbols: the man (Dante) and the woman (Love) at the back, the sundial, the red dove, etc

Women of the Pre-Raphaelite

long neck

Fanny Cornforth

model

Jane Morrison

model

Elizabeth Siddel

model

Portrait of Lizzie Siddel

Rossetti

Woman in Garden

prosperine?

Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood: Christina Rossetti

poet

Lizzie Siddal:Model for Lady of Shallot

Rosetti-Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood

The Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood

Their names ring familiar, the famous women who modelled for and who associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in marriage, affairs, and artistic endeavors.Lizzie Siddall,Georgie Burne-Jones,Jane Morris,Fanny Cornforth,Mary Zambaco,Emma Maddox Brown,Annie Miller,Euphemia Millais,Edith Hunt.What qualified the "Pre-Raphaelite stunner," and what fantasies did these women fulfill for their male counterparts. Moreover, who were these women themselves?Essential to the Pre-Raphaelite art is a woman's face, a beautiful visage with large, luminescent eyes set in a web of long hair. Powerful bodies, necks, or striking features usually make the "stunner," though Siddall represented a strong exception. Though tall and red-headed with a fine posture and lovely lidded eyes, she appears far plainer and more fragile in comparison to the dark-browed Jane Morris or the fleshy Fanny Cornforth.In paintings, each of these women's expressions embody enigma and distance; oftentimes, their poses remain static versus active. Strange that these unearthly alluring women should sit so silently when their images literally infect the Pre-Raphaelites' body of work. Their likelinesses appear in poetry and their very faces stare out of numberless canvases. The voices and meaningful looks of these women, however, are actually the filtered versions of the men who adored and depicted them.These women found themselves in a very difficult position. Agreeing to model for an artist already contained some risk to body and reputation, but to also shoulder expectations of some of these men's ideals of femme fatale, victim, or saint both in art and in life proved to be most hazardous. As Jan Marsh contends in The Pre-Raphaeilte Sisterhood, the romance and attention surrounding these women tended "both to glorify them, raising them like Hollywod film stars above the level of ordinary mortals into a mythic realm of tragic heroines and fatal sirens, and paradoxically to diminish them, reducing their real, complex, contradictory personalities and lives to flat figures in a fantasy landscape and taking away from them all sense of active life." In art and in life, some of the Pre-Raphaelite women felt the pressure to abandon humanity to become an archetype. They were dreams coming to life in paints, and it was this living dream which the artists could not help but fall in love with.In Gay Daly's invesitgative text Pre-Raphaelites in Love, she places a great concern upon this "bridge to the mundane." What happened when Beatrice or the Beggar Maid stepped out of the canvas and became a real person with everyday worries and concerns. Marriage, as Daly sees it, presented the ideal resolution for the Pre-Raphaelites, who believed it offered the only way to bring the romance they fantasized about into their own lives. Daly points out that as the uncertain industrial world increasingly showed a menacing face, "the rewards and benisons of marriage were touted more loudly; the perfect wife was hailed as an 'angel in the house,' who could salve all her husband's wounds with a celestial balm." The Pre-Raphaelites, who sought to escape the confusing world around them, turned to history, legend, myth and the constructions of women who inspired such an age.That women became their primary subject shows their belief that women can heal and guide -- but it also shows their concern in the contemporary lives of Victorian women: the victims, the old maids, and the prostitutes. These artists hated to see their ideal creatures so degraded and sought to raise them to higher state that they deserved.The theme of the woman destroyed by love -- betrayed by unrequited love, seduced by false ideals or false lovers or victimized by tragic love -- dominated Pre-Raphaelite, as well as Victorian, paintings and poems of the nineteenth century. Bound with the Victorian idea of feminine weakness, the Pre-Raphaelite concept of the woman as a victim stems from themes of medieval romance. However, there always remains an element of unfulfilled desire or denial of the true sweetness of romantic love. The Pre-Raphaelites re-interpret this idea and focus on the sensuality and sexual frustration or punishment of the female -- ideas that were met with both fear and fascination by most Victorians. Their works also re-fashioned this theme to include an awareness of social injustices. Most Victorian works depicted the woman alone, left to bear the brunt of shared sexual transgressions and cast out into the uncaring world. However, many Pre-Raphaelite paintings and poems include the male's presence or allude to his role in her destruction. The weight of blame shifts as we are asked to consider who has wronged the woman? And furthermore, does the nature of her destruction justify her final fate?The Pre-Raphaelites depicted the woman destroyed by various forms of love, whether unrequited, tragic or adulterous, by highlighting not only her mental destruction but also focusing on her sexual frustration or punishment. The Victorians believed passion to be deviant; thoughts of sexuality would cause insanity and thus repression was necessary. With the strong societal enforcement of these beliefs, many Victorians lived with great shame, guilt, and fear of damnation. Pre-Raphaelite works with themes of sexual morality often emphasized the woman's sexual frustration or her punishment, which stemmed from her sexually deviant behavior; for it was often considered unthinkable that a woman would have sexual thoughts or desires.Eventually destroyed by unrequited love, Mariana, the disconsolate heroine of Tennyson's lyric "Mariana," waits in vain for her lover. In his painting of the same title, John Everett Millais introduces Mariana (1851) in a sensuous stretching pose, which breaks from the typical pose of the woman inwardly expressing her grief. Painted with her arms bent and resting on the back of her hips as her head tilts back, Mariana's posture reveals the desolation and impatience that result from her intense longing. The changing leaves outside her window reflect her withering away and also emphasize her imprisonment. As Martin Meisel points out, the stained-glass window depicting the Annunciation and the stylized animal and floral motifs on the wall behind her, separate Mariana from the natural world of life outside. The improvised altar table with candles and triptych also helps suggest the withdrawn, isolated life one associates with a nun. Emblematic of the artificiality of her existence without human contact or love, Mariana's surroundings embody her role as a martyr for love. The Tennyson epigraph that accompanies the painting: "'My life is dreary -- / He cometh not' she said;/ She said, 'I am aweary, aweary -- I would that I were dead'" also conveys Mariana's physically and emotionally wounded state, destroyed by admitting her sexual desires and realizing their futility.Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Paolo & Francesca (1855) reworks the tragic tale of the love affair that results in their deaths by emphasizing the lustful and sexual nature of the lovers' union. Painted in triptych form, the first frame shows the two figures in an embrace, moved to consummate their illicit love by the story of Lancelot and Guenevere resting in front of them. The soft glowing light, warm tones and tender treatment of the scene illustrates the amorous force that leads to their end. The poets Dante and Virgil, depicted in the center frame, are accompanied by an inscription which quotes Dante's exclamation: "Alas! How many sweet thoughts, how much desire, led them to this unhappy pass". They watch the tragic lovers swept in the flaming winds of the Second Circle of Hell, in the furthest frame, as punishment for their adulterous love. Despite its forbidden nature, Francesca's love for Paolo softens her punishment and seems to survive even in Hell, further demonstrating its power. Floating, with their arms wrapped around one another in a tight embrace, their figures appear content and serene in their punishment. Unlike Augustus Egg's triptych, the artist does not use Francesca to demonstrate the immorality of adultery. Instead, Rossetti portrays the sensuality of her tragic love and seems to suggest that their love lies beyond condemnation.With his poem "The Defence of Guenevere," William Morris reinterprets the Arthurian legend of Guenevere, a popular source of Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood work. In a speech resembling the dramatic monologues of Robert Browning, Morris creates a realistic drama confronting the illicit romantic passion between the Queen and Sir Launcelot. Earlier in the poem, Guenevere associates herself with the innocence of springtime to elicit sympathy from her audience. However, she later describes the sensual nature of their love in passionate tones, recalling:Where with we kissed in meeting that spring day,I scarce dare talk of the remember'd bliss, When both our mouths went wandering in one way, And aching sorely, met among the leaves;Our hands being left behind strained far away. [lines 134-138]

Utilizing sensual, almost erotic, descriptive language, Morris's Guenevere refuses to remain "stone-cold for ever" and brazenly presents and defends her sexuality. Understood as a woman guilty of any sort of sexual activity out of wedlock, the fallen woman was equated with a woman's sexual self-destruction. By stressing her passion and desire, Morris's Guenevere attempts to renounce the shame and guilt associated with adultery; however, she must still suffer for her actions. Saved from her initial death sentence and cast out of Arthur's Kingdom, "King Arthur's Tomb" tells of her self-inflicted vow to devote herself to Christ instead of returning to Lancelot.Dante Gabriel Rossetti's poem "Jenny" (1870) features the prostitute, commonly referred to as the "great social evil" in the Victorian period. According to Judity Walkowitz, at least 80,000 prostitutes worked in central London in the last quarter of the 19th century. Rossetti's "Jenny" highlights the sexual asymmetry inherent to her profession. In lines 1-9, the narrator describes:Lazy laughing languid Jenny,Fond of a kiss and fond of a guinea . . . Fair Jenny mine,the thoughtless queenOf kisses which the blush betweenCould hardly make much daintier.If one trusts the speaker with his description, "languid" and "thoughtless" Jenny does not appear bothered by her own circumstances. While she remains a symbol of a ruined woman, seduced by the physical, Jenny also becomes a desiring sexual subject in her own right. While the speaker condemns her for being impure, he wrestles with his simultaneous compassion for the prostitute and passion for the woman. Less about the fate of the young prostitute than about the inner life of the narrator, "Jenny" reveals the character of the prostitute who does not see the error in her ways and perhaps even enjoys her sexual freedom.Generally depicted as a solitary figure, the victimized woman represented by many Victorian artists bore the burden of her destruction alone. Whether her undoing involved an unrequited romance or shared sexual transgressions, she often faced the uncaring world as an outcast -- punished as a mad woman or social misfit. Many Victorian works aimed to incite pathos and offered didactic instructions in order to avoid a similar fate. However, several Pre-Raphaelite artists and writers and their contemporaries, such as Richard Redgrave, sought to alter this traditional depiction to include an awareness of social injustices -- often alluding to the fact that in every ruined woman's story there lay a guilty man.A popular example, Outcast by Richard Redgrave embodies the Victorian puritanical attitude toward sexuality. A melodramatic painting, Redgrave depicts a stern father casting out his daughter and her illegitimate baby into the literal cold, while the rest of the family weeps, pleads, or beats the wall with excessive emotion. The artist focuses on the grim fate that awaits the outcast woman in order to warn other young ladies to avoid similar temptation and ruin. On the floor lies what appears to be the incriminating letter, but her partner in crime remains absent from the scene. Augustus Egg's Past and Present series depicts a woman's infidelity to her husband and the dire consequences in three dramatic and theatrical scenes. The first, The Infidelity Discovered, shows the fallen woman's body thrown at the feet of her husband, who has just discovered her deed. Her prostrate body points to the door, indicating her outcast status and forced removal from the family. Elements of the comfortable and happy life that the woman has supposedly ruined are represented by the lavish living room and the children at play in the corner.The second and third paintings, The Abandoned Daughters and The Wife Abandoned By Her Lover With Her Bastard Child, continue the dark story by illustrating the consequences of her actions and their self-destructive effects. The forlorn daughters, consoling each other by the window, and their fallen mother, huddling under a bridge, turn their respective heads to the same moon which becomes the sole connecting focal point of each piece. The only mention of the guilty man in this story remains in the first scene, as a small picture crushed under the husband's heel -- a minute detail easily overlooked. The quotation accompanying the series: "August 4th - have just heard that B -- - has been dead more than a fortnight, so his poor children have now lost both parents. I hear she was seen on Friday last near the Strand, evidently without a place to lay her head. What a fall hers has been!" also fails to acknowledge the existence of her accomplice; focusing the blame solely on the disloyal female .Conversely, the very presence of the male speaker in D. G. Rossetti's "Jenny" demonstrates the male's direct role in the fallen woman's destruction. The fact that the narrator speaks from inside the prostitute's bedroom emphasizes his personal role in perpetuating Jenny's situation, which he considers briefly in his dialogue. The reader realizes that while he sits, questioning her purity, Jenny symbolically epitomizes his own fallen nature. Holman Hunt's The Awakening Conscience also comments on this society by including the direct presence of the guilty male. Hunt's painting shows a kept mistress at the moment of her realization. She rises from her position on the man's lap and judging from his expression, he does not seem to be aware of her sudden consciousness. Captured during mid-song, his arm across her waist restricts the woman's movement and beckons her to sit back down. On the painting's frame Hunt placed a motto from Proverbs: "As he who taketh away a garment in cold weather, so is he who singeth songs unto a heavy heart." These words criticize her unfeeling seducer, who remains unaware how his words have oppressed and aided her conscience. Both works include a heightened awareness of social injustices in the adulterous affair's traditional gender roles and challenges and disperses the idea of blame.In Take Your Son Sir (1852), Ford Madox Brown confronts the theme of the fallen woman with a focus on the illegitimate child, making the shared sexual nature of the woman's transgression explicit. The idea of the illegitimate child and the fact that the adulterous woman could try to pass off this child as her husband's true offspring frightened Victorian society. In the double standard for husbands and wives, it was unthinkable that a woman would be unfaithful to her husband, but it was understood that a man might. As the title indicates, Brown's woman thrusts forward the offspring of an illicit union to the father's outstretched hands, reflected in the mirror. Her confrontational pose and defiant expression seems to demand shared responsibility for the child. The artist underscores the presence of the guilty man by placing the viewer of the painting in the role of the perpetrator. In a traditional scene showing the fallen woman and child, instead of displaying the typical Victorian shame and guilt, the woman seems to shows pride and challenges the viewer to confront the situation.Often thought to have brought upon her own destruction; the victim of unrequited romance deserves no less support and validation for the injustice of her situation.The medieval roots of unrequited love lie in Tennyson's Lady of Shalott. As an artistic soul that longs to have a relationship with another individual, the embowered Lady lives in alone on an island, weaving "Éby night and day / A magic web with colours gay." With only a mirror to see the life outside going by, she falls in love with Lancelot and pines away for him. Eventually destroyed by it, she resigns herself to death as she floats down to Camelot. The only artist to show the Lady's arrival at Camelot, D. G. Rossetti depicts Lancelot looking down at the dead Lady of Shalott in his illustration for the Moxon Tennyson. The subject of the wood engraving, the last quatrain of Tennyson's poem, emphasizes her paradoxical unraveling -- the Lady has given up everything, even her life, for love, and when she finally meets her love, her life is over. The chain that now ties the boat to its final moorings seems to become one with the clasps of the cloak around her neck, further sealing her fate. While it remains difficult to place blame on the unknowing Lancelot, Rossetti nevertheless alludes to his part in the Lady's death by including his presence in the design.In "Light Love" (1856), fellow poet Christina Rossetti draws significant attention to the man's role in the seduction and betrayal of the female protagonist. As in many of her other poems, the woman's unhappiness is caused by the action of men who are often predatory, lazy, or lost in their own sensuality -- while the women often bear the consequences. The speaker's initial words reveal the love she still has for him, despite his betrayal. He callously suggests that the she find some other love, "left from the days of old," to provide for her. Only then does she recognize the emptiness of his love, contrasting it with the more enduring qualities of the maternal love she has for their illegitimate child. He compares the speaker with his blooming bride, the "peach" who "trembles within his reach" and "Éreddens, my delight; / She ripens, reddens in my sight." When the speaker predicts that a similar betrayal might await his bride, he replies, "Like thee? nay not like thee: / She leans, but from a guarded tree." He implies that his bride-to-be woos him without giving away her chastity, thus contrasting the two women. However, he undermines his own comparison by using sensuous language to describe his bride: comparing her to a ripening peach whose inaccessibility ironically increases her worth and sexual appeal in his eyes. Rossetti also utilizes natural images of planting and harvesting and images of ripeness and unripeness to emphasize the ethereal nature of his seduction. Effectively abandoning his child's mother in search of a "ripe-blooming" carnal ideal, the man easily forgets his role in her destruction. "Thou leavest, love, true love behind" cries Rossetti's victimized woman, in a poetic dialogue not only with her false lover, but with the entire corrupt society he represents. His example exposes the hypocrisy of Victorian society and by the end of poem we see that the title applies to the man rather than the female -- it is for him that the nature of their love is "light" or of small importance.Although not a member of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, William Lindsay Windus created a painting entitled Too Late (1858) that captures another lovesick woman who literally wastes away due to her unmet desires. A quotation from the Tennyson poem, "Come Not, When I am Dead," accompanies it: "If it were thine error or thy crime/ I care no longer, being all unblest;/ Wed whom thou wilt; but I am sick of time,/ And I desire to rest" (lines 4-8). While the reason for her separation from her beloved remains ambiguous, her ruined health and broken heart are on full display for her belated lover's return. She appears sickly and frail, with sunken eyes and hollow cheeks. As a literally lovesick woman, she stands before her beloved, leaning on a crutch for support. Her haunting expression cements the pain he has caused while he turns his face away from her in agitation, pity and perhaps disgrace. although heavily criticized by Ruskin, Windus's painting clearly illustrates the extent to which the man can affect the telling of unrequited love.The various depictions of the woman destroyed by love, in all its forms, often conclude with her final fate -- death. This forces us to question the permanent nature of her destruction: Does her death warrant justification? How might she have been saved? Many Victorians felt that death represented an inevitable and welcome release for the lovesick or fallen woman; particularly in the case of the adulteress and prostitute.Having suffered from unrequited love, women such as Tennyson's wistful Lady of Shalott and frustrated Mariana and Windus's sickly invalid succumb to death by physical deterioration, as a manifestation of their mental state. No longer able to endure their desire for emotional and physical fulfillment, these women meet death as weakened shells of their former selves. Similarly, in "The Woodsman's Daughter," Coventry Patmore's tragic Maud goes mad and eventually drowns her illegitimate son. Seduced by the wealthy squire's son, the poor woodsman's daughter's ideal love cannot be realized due to their social class differences. Thus, although she remains alive, Patmore describes her fate as akin to death in the poem's last stanza: "The night blackens the pool, but Maud/ Is constant at her post,/ Sunk in a dread, unnatural sleep."As an extension of this mode of destruction, suicide was viewed as the inevitable course of action for the adulteress and prostitute. Already outcast from Victorian society, these women were ultimately reduced to "the most abject poverty and wretchednessÉtheir fate could only be premature old age and early Death". This statement supports the common view that once a woman or girl had fallen, she was essentially unsalvageable. "The Bridge of Sighs" by Thomas Hood, describes the circumstances of the stereotypical solitary harlot and her brutalized existence:The bleak wind of MarchMade her tremble and shiver; But not the dark arch, Or the black flowing river: Mad from life's history, Glad to death's mystery, Swift to be hurl'd -- Anywhere, anywhereOut of the world! [lines 63-71](death/suicide)

Hood captures the instant before the woman commits suicide by jumping off the bridge, owing her weakness to "her evil behavior." Similarly, George Frederic Watts's Found Drowned, painted in 1848, depicts a suicide washed up under the arch of Waterloo Bridge. Both works assume we understand that the woman's fate before was worse than death, and therefore death would provide a welcome respite. Egg sets the last painting in his Past and Present series under the Adelphi arches of the same bridge, alluding to the woman's inevitable watery suicide out of guilt and remorse. In the same vein of Hogarth's moralizing engravings, such as Industry and Idleness, Egg uses his triptych to display adultery's most dire consequences. Not quite as didactic, the depiction of the woman's redemption at the hands of her wronged husband made fewer appearances. Egg's painting, as well as the works of Hood and Watts, demonstrate the lack of sympathy for the woman who destroys her own family and happiness; and to many Victorian audiences her death sentence seemed a fitting and gracious escape.In contrast, the issue of how the fallen woman could be rescued or raised up again emerges in several Pre-Raphaelite works that present the possibility of spiritual redemption. In Morris's poem "King Arthur's Tomb," Guenevere finally chooses a life devoted to Christ instead of returning to Lancelot. although she struggles endlessly with her decision, she professes:Yet am I very sorry for my sin;

The oil painting Lady Lilith depicts artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti's version of an ancient figure, but with a twist. Here, the figure is in the guise of a Nineteenth century femme fatale. According to the legend, Lilith was the first wife of Adam. She was both beautiful and devious. Rossetti composed a poem about this woman, in which she is characterized as a dazzling seductress with golden hair that could be used to ensnare a man. And the artist certainly emphasized the deadly charms of Lilith's gold tresses in this painting, for she is caught in the act of combing her luxurious locks while gazing contemplatively into a hand mirror.The fallen woman was quite a theme for the Pre-Raphaelites. In this painting, The Awakening Conscience, we see a mistress rising from the seat of her lover, seemingly stricken with the realization of what her life has become. The Awakening Conscience, painted by William Holman Hunt, is filled with symbolism: a cat crouches under the table devouring a dead bird, the woman’s hands are adorned with rings on every finger except where a wedding ring would be, on the floor we see unraveling wool. I recently read in Reading the Pre-Raphaelites that the sheet music on the piano, Oft in the Stilly Night, is presumably responsible for the awakening of her conscious:Oft, in the stilly night,Ere Slumber’s chain has bound me,Fond Memory brings the lightOf other days around me;The smiles, the tears,Of boyhood’s years,The words of love then spoken;The eyes that shone,Now dimm’d and gone,The cheerful hearts now broken!Thus, in the stilly night,Ere Slumber’s chain hath bound me,Sad Memory brings the lightOf other days around me.

John Ruskin, feeling that the painting was misunderstood, wrote that “There is not a single object in all that room, common, modern, vulgar…but it becomes tragical, if rightly read…That furniture so carefully painted, even to the last vein of rosewood - is there nothing to be learnt from the terrible lustre of it, from its fatal newness; nothing there that has the old thoughts of home upon it, or that is ever to become a part of a home?”The newness of the furniture is significant and indicates the freshly furnished home of a kept woman, not the loved and worn furnishings that fill the home of a family.The model in this painting is Annie Miller, who Holman Hunt “rescued from obscurity”. He was engaged to her and launched a campaign to better her. She took classes and worked to become a refined woman of a higher class than she was born to. It is said that in this painting, her face originally showed a look of guilt. But after learning of her infidelity with Dante Gabriel Rossetti, Holman Hunt repainted her features. I would love to know what the original looked like.

Awakening Consciousness

Victorian Patriarchy

Augusta Egg:Abandoned Daughters

Victoriana

Augusta Egg:Infidelity Discovered

guilt

Augusta Egg:AWife Abandoned with her Bastard Child

Victorian England

Richard Redgrave: Outcasts

Victorian Society

Suicide

how much worse was it if death is preferred

Annunciation

is Mary to become a fallen woman

Mary with the Grail

the blood of Christ

Mary Magdalene

Prostitute or Apostle?

Millaise:Christ in the House

Jesus at home with his parents

Dante Story of Pia

dying

Paola and Fransca

lovers

Ophelia by Hughes

foresaken

Rossetti:Blessed Damsel

Virgin

Fair Rosamund

Mariana

stained Glass

Pre-Raphaelite goddesses

During the middle of the nineteenth century, a style of art emerged that was in a striking contrast to the staidism of the age, and which contributed to the re-emergence of the goddess in the western mind: Pre-Raphaelitism. Through this art, the goddess, and in particular, the dark goddess, was manifested at a time central to the spiritual evolution of England, and the world.The recent history of England is punctuated by periods during which there were resurgence in matter magickal, or during which a new, or rediscovered, way of looking at the world was adopted. There are three such magickal periods in particular, and each was at a time a queen was on the throne. Under the rule of Elizabeth 1 (1533-1603), magick came to the fore in the form of her court astrologer, Dr John Dee. Dee advised Elizabeth on the most propitious dates on which to conduct her affairs, including the date of her coronation. In turn, her matronage allowed Dee to develop and explore his unique system of angelic occultism, Enochian magick, which is still with us today. Such was Dee’s stature that it is widely thought that he was the template -for the magian figure of Prospero in Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Shakespeare’s vast corpus, and the hermetically themed Globe theatre, were also part of England’s magickal awakening, as was the work of Bacon; who, to some, was Shakespeare himself.In our own age, the rule of Queen Elizabeth II has ushered in what has been colloquially described as the New Age. This has entailed a new view of the world in which many forms of, sexuality are embraced where they were once suppressed, whole new forms of science, and a growth in all manner of new belief systems and philosophies. This is not necessarily related to the person Elizabeth Windsor, but to those archetypes she unconsciously embodies; though some embodiments can be more aware of their role than others. Such has been the influence of Elizabeth II that her potential successor, Prince Charles, has promised to be a protector of faiths, rather than a traditional protector of the single Anglican view of the world.Returning to the nineteenth century, England was ruled by perhaps the greatest monarch in its history, Queen Victoria (1819-1901). While the spectre of traditional Victorian values looms large over this age, her reign was one in which magick enjoyed a revival that carried on well into our own age. In 1888, fifty-one years after Victoria’s accession, what was to later become the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn was first formed, while a year later, one Aleister Crowley became an initiate, before he left after a stormy internship to form his own order the Argenteum Astrum. Whatever ones personal opinion on the magick, or worth, of either the Golden Dawn, or Crowley, there is no denying the impact both had on magick, and witchcraft (Crowley having had a large hand in compiling Gerald Gardner’s Book Of Shadows), and it is impossible to ignore the public awareness of magick that they both facilitated.Exactly forty years prior to the founding of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn, eleven years following Victoria’s accession, another order of sorts was formed, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. All young painters, the founders explicitly rejected the conventions of society and art. They deplored the styles of the High Renaissance, and its inheritors, finding more of worth in the early Italian and Flemish art, and in the spirit of, as their name suggests, the artists before Raphael. The art of the Pre-Raphaelites could then be loosely defined as having high definition, bright colour, shallow spaces, and flat plans: Thematically, it dealt largely, although not wholly, with symbolism, creating archetypal images that were direct in their power, rather than simply anecdotal, or descriptive.Central to the approach was the frequent use of the motifs of poetry, and, indeed, much of Pre-Raphaelitism can be seen as an attempt to do visual justice to the otherwise intangible mental images produced by poetry. Romanticism, from John Keats to Alfred Tennyson, provided a template for the Pre-Raphaelites, and allowed the movement to centre upon the theme it would be most famous for painting, the goddess made manifest in mortal women. These mortal women were models, and sometimes painters in their own right, drawn from the family and friends of the Pre-Raphaelite artists. They were known colloquially as stunners, and amongst their number were women who would come to embody the Pre-Raphaelite goddess: the pale, red-headed, Elizabeth Siddal; the blonde Fanny Cornforth, a former prostitute; the thickly-browed Jane Morris; and the Greek Maria Zambaco. Stunners could be divided into three basic groups: the virgin, typified by Lizzie Siddal; the goddess of sex and desire, embodied in Fanny Cornforth; and the dark goddess of death, typified by Jane Morris.Of all the Pre-Raphaelite painters, two were particularly responsible for establishing the aesthetic benchmarks of the Pre-Raphaelite style, and for presencing the dark goddess in their work: Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and later, Edward Burne-Jones.ROSSETTI, DEATH, AND THE MAIDEN Dante Gabriel Rossetti, brother of the poet Christina Rossetti, illustrated the break with tradition that the Pre-Raphaelites represented in his first two major works: The Girlhood of Mary Virgin (1849) and Ecce Ancilla Domini (1850). In the first, described by Rossetti as ‘a symbol of female excellence’, the artist’s own family was the model for the holy family, with his mother, Frances Rossetti, as Saint Anne, and his sister Christina as the Virgin; ‘her appearance being excellently adapted to my purpose’ wrote Rossetti. The Virgin appears embroidering a red stole with a lily, using a lily in a red jar, clasped by an angel, as the model. The image is one that echoes the art of the middle ages, both in its style, and in its Mariolatry; something relatively alien to the Protestant world of Victorian England. The images of The Girlhood of Mary Virgin recur in Ecce Ancilla Domini, the Annunciation. In this painting, Rossetti premised the directness and force of emotion that would come to typify Pre-Raphaelite art. Instead of a vulgar and clawing sentimentality, Rossetti approached the subject as one of real human emotion, in which the Virgin again modelled by Christina, reacts with shock, and almost fear, at being told she will be the mother of Jesus. The painting is tall and narrow, which adds to the tension of the work, with the Virgin in a white night-gown, shrinking against the wall, while the angel Gabriel floats to the left of the bed. In his hand, he holds a lily which is pointing directly at the Virgin’s womb, and to which her eyes are fixed, almost in dread. That the Virgin is shown seated on her bed adds to the sense of intimacy and realism. The painting is one of vivid human emotion, rather than a simple romanticized or veiled depiction of the event, in which the reality of divine-human sexual intercourse is depicted in all its terrifying potential.

While these early works reflected the light side of the goddess as she appears in New Testament myth, Rossetti also dealt with her dark aspect, Mary Magdalene. The Magdalene was a popular image for the Pre-Raphaelites, as was her province, prostitution, from where many of the artists acquired their models. In 1857, Rossetti painted Mary Magdalene Leaving the House of Feasting, in which she was shown with bare feet, loose hair and a floral crown. The model for Mary was Annie Miller, a model who had been discovered/rescued by the artist Holman Hunt, but who had appropriately escaped from him at the time of the sitting. Rossetti returned to the Magdalene a year later in Mary Magdalene at the Door of Simon the Pharisee, this time using Ruth Herbert as the model, but with the same motifs of wild hair, intertwined with flowers, bare feet, and a palpable sense of erotic power.Following Rossetti’s death in 1682, his sisters Frances and Christina asked the artist’s assistant and friend, Frederic Shields, to design a memorial window for him in the Kent church where he was buried. Shield’s chose a design based on Mary Magdalene at the Door of Simon the Pharisee, but this was rejected by the vicar as ‘unlikely to inspire devotional thoughts.’ Instead, a work based on The Passover in the Holy Family was used. It is possible to see in Shield’s unconventional choice that Rossetti, and some of the Pre-Raphaelites, were a continuation of the cult of artists through the ages who have venerated the Magdalene as the true expression of the goddess, and the key to any spiritual validity that Christianity might have.Certainly, the depictions of Mary Magdalene are some of the most powerful of all the Pre-Raphaelite paintings, and they are in keeping with the initiated images of her down through the ages. She appears consistently with long, luxurious red hair, wearing red clothing, with an expression and demeanour of erotic energy, fecundity, and divinity. It is possible to see the Magdalene not only in those paintings that specifically show her, but also in Rossetti’s other celebration of fallen women, such as The Blue Bower (1865), Fazio’s Mistress (1863), and Bocca Baciata (1859). The latter in particular seems like a depiction of Mary Magdalene, the woman depicted being from a tale by Boccacio about a woman with many-lovers whose much-kissed mouth renews its freshness; a stark contrast to the prevailing opinion that promiscuous women were dirty. Such is the archetypal power of Bocca Baciata, where a redheaded woman (modelled by Fanny Cornforth) simply gazes to the left of the viewer, that the pagan poet Swinburne was moved to describe it as ‘more stunning then can be decently expressed.’ While Holman Hunt, whose own painting is more vulgar than erotic, compared it to pornography, and described it as displaying ‘gross sensuality of a revolting kind.’Rossetti’s Blue Bower, yet again modelled by Fanny Cornforth, was based on the poem Song of the Bower, which he had himself composed, and which reveals several distinctive Magdalenean characteristics:What were my prize, could I enter thy bower This day, tomorrow, at eve or at morn? Large lovely arms and a neck like a tower, Bosom then heaving that now lies forlorn. Mary Magdalene was indeed traditionally seen as large bodied (in contrast to the Virgin who appears, like Christina Rossetti, with a slim, almost fecundless body), The simile of her neck like a tower speaks to Mary Magdalene’s association with the symbol of the tower, such as the Tour Magdala built by Berenger-Sauniere at Rennes le Chateau.Other Pre-Raphaelites dealt with the figure of Mary Magdalene. Anthony Frederick Sandys’s Mary Magdalene (1858-60) shows her as a red-lipped woman, with sharp features reminiscent of Lizzie Siddal (though the model is unknown) and long red hair, holding an alabaster jar to her breast. Dante Rossetti accused Sandys of plagiarism, because of the resemblance to Mary Magdalene Leaving the House of Feasting, but when Rossetti came to paint the Magdalene some twenty years later, it was his painting that resembled Sandys.

Another aspect of the goddess that Rossetti embraced was the death goddess. Death was an important theme for both the Pre-Raphaelites and the Romantics, and the Rossettis were a part of both worlds. The melancholic Christina was able to sum up this emotion towards death, and seems to channel the very spirit of death in her sparse, but beautiful, Songs:When I am my dead, my dearest, Sing no sad songs for me; Plant thou no roses at my head, Nor shady cypress tree, Be the green grass over me With showers and dewdrops wet, And if thou wilt, remember, And if thou wilt, forget Swinburne, on the other hand, wrote of death as Persephone: "Pale, beyond porch and portal, Crowned with calm leaves…Death-like, she has languid lips and cold immortal hands.” He was echoed, in turn, by the Decadent poet Arthur Symons, who enquired:O pale and heavy-lidded woman, why is your cheek Pale as the dead, and what are your eyes. afraid lest they speak? And the woman answered me: I am pale as the dead For the dead have-loved me, and I dream of the dead... For Dante Rossetti, the death goddess became manifested in two models: Elizabeth Siddal and Jane Morris. The dark, naturally chthonic face of Jane Morris made her the perfect model for his Proserpine (1873-77) in which the classical goddess of the underworld is dressed in a dark blue dress, while holding an open pomegranate towards the viewer. Rossetti explained how she was represented in a gloomy corridor of her palace, with the fatal fruit in her hand. As she passes, a gleam strikes on the wall behind her, admitting for a moment the light of the upper world.’ For Rossetti, the image had a second meaning, as he was in love with Jane, who spent the winter months in London with her husband William Morris, but modelled for him in the summer at Kelmscott Manor.Rossetti used Jane Morris for other classical incarnations of the goddess. In Pandora (1869) she appears as the goddess of the title, bearing the casket out of which flow all the world’s evils with a ruddy glow. In contrast, Astarte Syriaca (1877) celebrated Jane Morris as the eternal feminine, as the goddess who provided the source for Aphrodite and later goddesses. Unlike many of Rossetti’s works for which she modelled (in which she gazes just to the left of the viewer), in this she looks straight out of the centre of the painting. She is dressed in a green, almost aqueous, gown, while she is flanked by two female spirits or aspects that hold torches and gaze upwards. The painting is a sublime visual realization of everything the artist expressed in his accompanying sonnet:Torch-bearing, her sweet ministers compel All thrones of light beyond the sky and sea The witness of Beauty’s face to be:That face, of Love’s all-penetrative spell- Amulet, talisman and oracle- Betwixt the Sun and Moon a mystery That Rossetti worshipped Jane Morris herself as a goddess is evidenced by the way in which he returned to her image, painting with little variation and little symbolism other than what was implied In titles like: Silence, Reverie, Aurea Catena, The Day Dream, Perlascura and La Donna della Fiamma. But although he worshipped Jane Morris in his later life, the goddess of his younger years was Elizabeth Siddal.Rossetti had been named Dante by his father who was obsessed with the poetry of Dante Alighieri, and the esoteric meanings behind the Divine Comedy. Naturally, the young Rossetti came to identify himself with Dante, and in turn, identified Elizabeth Siddal with Beatrice, Dante’s mystical and unattainable lover. This was cemented in some of the early works for which she sat: Beatrice Denying Her Salutation (1851-52), and Dantes Dream at the Time of the Death of Beatrice (18531. But being the incarnation of an archetype risks all that that archetype embodies, and in 1862, after a stillbirth, she died of an overdose of laudanum.Rossetti’s sorrow and guilt (guilt that was doubled where Lizzie’s grave was exhumed years later to retrieve a book of his poems) led to his most sublime vision of death: Beata Beatrix (1864-70). Lizzie is shown as Beatrice at the moment of death, with her eyes shut, and her gaze directed upwards. She is lit with a rosy golden light, while a red bird drops a poppy into her clasped hands. Rossetti described the moment as a “sudden spiritual transformation. Beatrice is rapt visibly into heaven seeing as it were through shut lids. ‘ In the distance, Dante gazes at Love, ‘in whose hand the waning life of his lady flickers as a flame. On the sundial at her side the shadow falls on the hour of nine...”

The painting is one of the transcendent role of death, where through the opiate gift of the dark goddess, Lizzie has become death herself. She has passed from the role of a mortal muse, to an immortal archetype. Intriguingly, years after the painting of Beata Beatrix, an over-painted photograph of Elizabeth Rossetti (as she was then known) was discovered, in which she is in a similar posture, with her eyes shut, and her hands clasped. Although there is no firm evidence, it would seem that this posthumous portrait provided the template for the larger painted tribute.BURNE-JONES, SANDYS, AND THE WITCH-GODDESS While Rossetti found his goddess in the dark browed Jane Morris, Edward Burne-Jones found his in the equally dark Maria Zambaco, who was to typify his work as Jane Morris typified the work of Rossetti. While Rossetti’s style could be described as a style of flesh, in which the strength of full-figures is celebrated, and one can sense the blood flowing beneath the skin, Burne-Jones’s style is one of spirit, in which the human figure is so highly polished that it is the soul rather than the body that seems to be on display. His painted figures possess a luminescence that is almost indescribable, and a fragility that is only just prevented from lifting off the page.Many of Rossetti’s themes were repeated by Burne-Jones, such as his Annunciation (1879), which echoes the thin design and positioning of Ecce Ancilla Domini, but lacks the tension, energy, and iconoclasm of Rossetti’s original. Instead, it is in his own thematic strain that Burne-Jones truly excelled: the mythic witch-goddess or sorceress. Although vilified by the rest of western culture (even by many that seek to reclaim the feminine), the witch-goddess was understood by Burne-Jones as an essential aspect of the goddess. Writing in reference to Maria Zambaco, who presenced so many forms of this dark goddess, he said: ‘Don’t hate, some things are beyond scolding - hurricanes and tempests and billows of the sea - it’s no use blaming them... No, don’t hate.’His depictions of Nimue in The Beguiling of Merlin (1874), or Circe from 1868, or Hela as Frau Venus in Laus Veneris (1869), are, thus, never grim demonifications of the goddess, but instead almost reverential celebrations of her divinity and energy. The same can also be said for the sorceress-themed paintings of Anthony Sandys, who owes more in style to the shallow-spaced and full-bodied style of Rossetti, than to the fragility of Burne-Jones. The sorceress is shown with reverence, while still retaining a sense of danger, in works like Medea (1868), Medusa (18775), Vivian (1863), and Morgan le Fay (1862). Appropriately, the model for Morgan le Fay is said to have been a gypsy woman called Keomi, who was Sandy’s mistress in the 1860s, and who can also seen as the model for Medea.THE PRE-RAPHAELITE SISTERHOOD For a movement that celebrated the goddess, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, appropriately, had a number of notable women artists amongst its number. Several of the most famous models were artists in their own right. Lizzie Siddal was encouraged by Rossetti to paint and draw, and was taught by Rossetti himself, which led to their engagement. Marie Spartali Stillman, who posed for Rossetti, Burne-Jones, and Julia Margaret Cameron, and made Swinburne wax ‘She is so beautiful that I want to sit down and cry,’ was an artist of some note. Her Convent Lily (1891) combines Rossetti’s shallow-spaces with the luminescence of Burne-Jones, and yet is wholly her own.Jane Morris and her sister Elizabeth Burden became renowned for their embroidery, going so far as to unstitch old pieces to learn how the stitches were laid. Jane’s husband, William Morris, created a company Morris and Co, which dealt with tapestries and stained glass, and Jane and her sister created many of the works; although William Morris was given the credit for commercial reasons. Of specific note are three panels produced during the 1880s, one of which is the striking depiction of the Amazon queen Hippolyta. She is dressed in a full suit of armour, beneath a tapestried robe, with a sword and spear, and a face rather reminiscent of Jane Morris. Two of the true giants of the Pre-Raphaelite Sisterhood, though, were Evelyn de Morgan and Julia Margaret Cameron.The growth of the Pre-Raphaelites coincided with the emergence of photography as a genuine art form, and Julia Margaret Cameron was at the forefront of this revolution. Many of the elements of Pre-Raphaelitism can be seen as consequence of photography, in particular the shallow-spaced portraits of Rossetti. Beata Beatrix is certainly anticipated in Cameron’s Call, I follow, I follow - let me die (1867), which depicted Elaine from Tennyson’s Idyll as a woman’s head in dramatic profile. The image can also be seen as a prototype of the head of Nimue in Burne-Jones’s The Beguiling of Merlin (1873). Cameron was in turn no less influenced by the poetic nature of Rossetti’s painting in developing her unique photographic style. She returned to Elaine in the more literal Elaine the Lily Maid of Astolat (1874), and the whole Arthurian cycle, particularly as described by Tennyson, became her source of inspiration.In the 1870s, Cameron began a full series of photographic images based on the Idylls of the King, with models dressed in believable period costume, and mirroring the themes other Pre-Raphaelites would render in paint or tapestry. Her images are, in many ways, the definitive interpretations of Tennyson’s work, having all his mystery, but underscored with a palpable sense of the human. The same is also true of her other photographic renderings, such as the Marie Stillman-modelled Hypatia, The Spirit of the Vine (1868), and Mnemosyne (1888).The magick of medievalism was also explored by the late Pre-Raphaelite, Evelyn de Morgan. De Morgan’s style can be compared to that of Burne-Jones, with a similar luminescence and lightness of feel, but with a more endearing quality of her own; Burne-Jones slight figures are often more disconcerting than friendly. She also celebrated the witch-goddess as Burne-Jones had done. In her Queen Eleanor and Fair Rosamund (1888) she illustrates the historical incarnation of Hela as the queen of Henry II about to poison Henry’s mistress Fair Rosamund within her labyrinthine bower (a reiteration of the ancient pagan myth of the goddess in the labyrinth). The painting is remarkable not only for its ability to grasp the defining moment (an epiphanous moment akin to Rossetti in Beata Beatrix), but in de Morgan’s unique style of translucent dragons and cupids, which flit above the plain of the image.

These same ephemeral dragons appear in The Captives of the same year, in which five young women are trapped in a subterranean cave, while dragons float around and through them. It has been suggested that this image was a scathing comment on the Victorian restraints on women, and de Morgan was certainly not someone who was willing to submit to a role. As a student, at the Slade School of Art in London in the 1870s, she had rebelled against the prevailing belief that art should be a hobby for womyn, rather than a serious occupation, and resented the convention that young womyn should never venture out unaccompanied. She consistently tried to evade her chaperons, and would paint in secret when otherwise forbidden to.If Jane Morris can be seen as a persistent symbol of the Pre-Raphaelite goddess, it is apt that Evelyn de Morgan chose, between 1904-1905, to paint her in her crone phase for The Hour Glass. Jane was shown as a sombre queen, sitting on a throne, her hands resting upon an hour glass; with motifs indicative of Jane’s personal love of music, and skill in tapestry, in the back ground. The image is one of time’s passing, and in many ways marks the end of the century, and the end of the Pre-Raphaelites. Jane Morris in her old age is still very much the dark goddess who gazed out from some many of Rossetti’s paeans to her, and simultaneously, she becomes all the other Pre-Raphaelite women in whom the goddess manifested.

Beatrix

saint or sinner?

Fountain

nature

Flora

nature

Rossetti: Astarte

goddess

Rossetti:Prosperine

goddess

De Morgan: Medea

medieval tapestry of life

Pre-Raphaelite Painters

The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood (also known as the Pre-Raphaelites) was a group of English painters, poets, and critics, founded in 1848 by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, William Michael Rossetti, James Collinson, John Everett Millais, Frederic George Stephens, Thomas Woolner and William Holman Hunt.The group's intention was to reform art by rejecting what they considered to be the mechanistic approach first adopted by the Mannerist artists who succeeded Raphael and Michelangelo. They believed that the Classical poses and elegant compositions of Raphael in particular had been a corrupting influence on the academic teaching of art. Hence the name "Pre-Raphaelite". In particular, they objected to the influence of Sir Joshua Reynolds, the founder of the English Royal Academy of Arts. They called him "Sir Sloshua", believing that his broad technique was a sloppy and formulaic form of academic Mannerism. In contrast, they wanted to return to the abundant detail, intense colours, and complex compositions of Quattrocento Italian and Flemish art.The Pre-Raphaelites have been considered the first avant-garde movement in art, though they have also been denied that status, because they continued to accept both the concepts of history painting and of mimesis, or imitation of nature, as central to the purpose of art. However, the Pre-Raphaelites undoubtedly defined themselves as a reform-movement, created a distinct name for their form of art, and published a periodical, The Germ, to promote their ideas. Their debates were recorded in the Pre-Raphaelite Journal.Beginnings of the Brotherhood Illustration by Holman Hunt of Thomas Woolner's poem "My Beautiful Lady", published in The Germ, 1850The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood was founded in John Millais's parents' house on Gower Street, London in 1848. At the initial meeting, John Everett Millais, Dante Gabriel Rossetti, and William Holman Hunt were present. Hunt and Millais were students at the Royal Academy of Arts. They had previously met in another loose association, a sketching-society called the Cyclographic Club. Rossetti was a pupil of Ford Madox Brown. He had met Hunt after seeing his painting The Eve of St. Agnes, which is based on Keats's poem. As an aspiring poet, Rossetti wished to develop the links between Romantic poetry and art. By autumn, four more members had also joined, to form a seven-member-strong Brotherhood. These were William Michael Rossetti (Dante Gabriel Rossetti's brother), Thomas Woolner, James Collinson, and Frederic George Stephens. Ford Madox Brown was invited to join, but preferred to remain independent. He nevertheless remained close to the group. Some other young painters and sculptors were also close associates, including Charles Allston Collins, Thomas Tupper, and Alexander Munro. They kept the existence of the Brotherhood secret from members of the Royal Academy.Early doctrinesThe Brotherhood's early doctrines were expressed in four declarations:To have genuine ideas to express; To study Nature attentively, so as to know how to express them; To sympathise with what is direct and serious and heartfelt in previous art, to the exclusion of what is conventional and self-parodying and learned by rote; And, most indispensable of all, to produce thoroughly good pictures and statues.These principles are deliberately non-dogmatic, since the Brotherhood wished to emphasise the personal responsibility of individual artists to determine their own ideas and methods of depiction. Influenced by Romanticism, they thought that freedom and responsibility were inseparable. Nevertheless, they were particularly fascinated by medieval culture, believing it to possess a spiritual and creative integrity that had been lost in later eras. This emphasis on medieval culture was to clash with certain principles of realism, which stress the independent observation of nature. In its early stages, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood believed that their two interests were consistent with one another, but in later years the movement divided and began to move in two directions. The realist-side was led by Hunt and Millais, while the medievalist-side was led by Rossetti and his followers, Edward Burne-Jones and William Morris. This split was never absolute, since both factions believed that art was essentially spiritual in character, opposing their idealism to the materialist realism associated with Courbet and Impressionism.In their attempts to revive the brilliance of colour found in Quattrocento art, Hunt and Millais developed a technique of painting in thin glazes of pigment over a wet white ground. They hoped that in this way their colours would retain jewel-like transparency and clarity. This emphasis on brilliance of colour was in reaction to the excessive use of bitumen by earlier British artists, such as Reynolds, David Wilkie and Benjamin Robert Haydon. Bitumen produces unstable areas of muddy darkness, an effect that the Pre-Raphaelies despised.Public controversiesThe first exhibition of Pre-Raphaelite work occurred in 1849. Both Millais's Isabella (1848–1849) and Holman Hunt's Rienzi (1848–1849) were exhibited at the Royal Academy, and Rossetti's Girlhood of Mary Virgin was shown at the Free Exhibition on Hyde Park Corner. As agreed, all members of the Brotherhood signed works with their name and the initials "PRB". Between January and April 1850, the group published a literary magazine, The Germ. William Rossetti edited the magazine, which published poetry by the Rossettis, Woolner, and Collinson, together with essays on art and literature by associates of the Brotherhood, such as Coventry Patmore. As the short run-time implies, the magazine did not manage to achieve a sustained momentum. (Daly 1989)Christ In the House of His Parents, by John Everett Millais, 1850.In 1850 the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood became controversial after the exhibition of Millais's painting Christ In The House Of His Parents, considered to be blasphemous by many reviewers, notably Charles Dickens. Their medievalism was attacked as backward-looking and their extreme devotion to detail was condemned as ugly and jarring to the eye. According to Dickens, Millais made the Holy Family look like alcoholics and slum-dwellers, adopting contorted and absurd "medieval" poses. A rival group of older artists, The Clique, also used their influence against the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Their principles were publicly attacked by the President of the Academy, Sir Charles Lock Eastlake.However, the Brotherhood found support from the critic John Ruskin, who praised their devotion to nature and rejection of conventional methods of composition. He continued to support their work both financially and in his writings.Following the controversy, Collinson left the Brotherhood. They met to discuss whether he should be replaced by Charles Allston Collins or Walter Howell Deverell, but were unable to make a decision. From that point on the group disbanded, though their influence continued to be felt. Artists who had worked in the style still followed these techniques (initially anyway) but they no longer signed works "PRB".Laterdevelopments and influenceMedea by Evelyn De Morgan, 1889, in quattrocento styleArtists who were influenced by the Brotherhood include John Brett, Philip Calderon, Arthur Hughes, Evelyn De Morgan and Frederic Sandys. Ford Madox Brown, who was associated with them from the beginning, is often seen as most closely adopting the Pre-Raphaelite principles.After 1856, Rossetti became an inspiration for the medievalising strand of the movement. His work influenced his friend William Morris, in whose firm Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. he became a partner, and with whose wife Jane he may have had an affair. Ford Madox Brown and Edward Burne-Jones also became partners in the firm. Through Morris's company the ideals of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood influenced many interior designers and architects, arousing interest in medieval designs, as well as other crafts. This led directly to the Arts and Crafts movement headed by William Morris. Holman Hunt was also involved with this movement to reform design through the Della Robbia Pottery company.After 1850, both Hunt and Millais moved away from direct imitation of medieval art. Both stressed the realist and scientific aspects of the movement, though Hunt continued to emphasise the spiritual significance of art, seeking to reconcile religion and science by making accurate observations and studies of locations in Egypt and Palestine for his paintings on biblical subjects. In contrast, Millais abandoned Pre-Raphaelitism after 1860, adopting a much broader and looser style influenced by Reynolds. William Morris and others condemned this reversal of principles.The movement influenced the work of many later British artists well into the twentieth century. Rossetti later came to be seen as a precursor of the wider European Symbolist movement. In the late twentieth century the Brotherhood of Ruralists based its aims on Pre-Raphaelitism, while the Stuckists and the Birmingham Group have also have derived inspiration from it.The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery has a world-renowned collection of works by Burne-Jones and the Pre-Raphaelites that, some claim, strongly influenced the young J.R.R. Tolkien.In the twentieth century artistic ideals changed and art moved away from representing reality. Since the Pre-Raphaelites were fixed on portraying things with near-photographic precision, though with a distinctive attention to detailed surface-patterns, their work was devalued by many critics. Since the 1970s there has been a resurgence in interest in the movement.List of artistsThe Pre-Raphaelite BrotherhoodJames Collinson (painter)William Holman Hunt (painter)John Everett Millais (painter)Dante Gabriel Rossetti (painter, poet)William Michael Rossetti (critic)Frederic George Stephens (critic)Thomas Woolner (sculptor, poet)Associated artists and figuresJohn Brett (painter)Ford Madox Brown (painter, designer)Richard Burchett (painter, educator)Edward Burne-Jones (painter, designer)Charles Allston Collins (painter)Frank Cadogan Cowper (painter)Walter Howell Deverell (painter)Arthur Hughes (painter, book illustrator)Robert Braithwaite Martineau (painter)Jane Morris (artist's model)May Morris (embroiderer and designer)William Morris (designer, writer)Christina Rossetti (poet)John Ruskin (critic)Anthony Frederick Augustus Sandys (painter)Thomas Seddon (painter)Elizabeth Siddal (painter, poet and artist's model)Simeon Solomon (painter)Marie Spartali Stillman (painter)Algernon Swinburne (poet)Henry Wallis (painter)William Lindsay Windus (painter)Loosely associated artistsSophie Gengembre Anderson (painter)Wyke Bayliss (painter)George Price Boyce (painter)Sir Frederick William Burton (painter)Julia Margaret Cameron (photographer)James Campbell (painter)John Collier (painter)William Davis (painter)Evelyn De Morgan (painter)Frank Bernard Dicksee (painter)John William Godward (painter)Thomas Cooper Gotch (painter)Edward Robert Hughes (painter)John Lee (painter)Edmund Leighton (painter)Charles William Mitchell (painter)Frederic, Lord Leighton (painter)Joseph Noel Paton (painter)John William Waterhouse (painter)Daniel Alexander Williamson (painter)ModelsFanny CornforthAnnie MillerJane MorrisElizabeth Siddall (Rossetti)Marie Spartali StillmanMaria ZambacoCollectionsThere are major collections of Pre-Raphaelite work in the:Tate GalleryVictoria and Albert MuseumManchester Art GalleryLady Lever Art GalleryLiverpool's Walker Art GalleryBirmingham Museum & Art Gallery.The Delaware Art Museum has the most significant collection of Pre-Raphaelite art outside of the United Kingdom.Andrew Lloyd Webber is an avid collector of Pre-Raphaelite works and a selection of 300 items from his collection were shown at a major exhibition at the Royal Academy in 2003.BooksBate, P.H. [1901] (1972) The English Pre-Raphaelite painters : their associates and successors, New York : AMS Press, ISBN 0-404-00691-4des Cars, L. (2000) The pre-Raphaelites : romance and realism, New York : Harry N. Abrams, ISBN 0-81092-891-4 Mancoff, D.N. (2003) Flora symbolica : flowers in Pre-Raphaelite art, Munich ; London ; New York : Prestel, ISBN 3-7913-2851-4Marsh, J. and Nunn, P.G. (1998) Pre-Raphaelite women artists, London : Thames & Hudson, ISBN 0-500-28104-1 Staley, A. and Newall, C. (2004) Pre-Raphaelite vision : truth to nature, London : Tate, ISBN 1-85437-499-0Townsend, J., Ridge, J. and Hackney, S. (2004) Pre-Raphaelite painting techniques : 1848-56, London : Tate, ISBN 1-85437-498-2

Rossetti:Joan of Arc

warrior, saint

The Germ

"My Beautiful Lady"

Holman Hunt:Lady of Shallot

windows and mirrors

Meteyard: Lady of Shallot

study in blue

Waterhouse: Lady of Shallot Looking at Lancelot

ivory tower

Waterhouse:Lady of Shallot

went down to Camelot

John William Waterhouse: Lady of Shallot

I am half sick

Arthurian gods in his Tales

FISHER KING, THE (Welsh, Cornish) A confused but powerful set of tales coalesce in the Arthurian mythos to create this figure. Stripped of all the divergent threads and inconsistencies, the essence of the story seems to be that of a Guardian of a sacred treasure (the Grail, in the Arthurian cycle), who is injured with an incurable but nonfatal wound, brought about by his own misconduct or inability to maintain the superhuman standards of his office. Though imperfect, and in continual suffering, he nevertheless continues to exert himself in the service of Good, and seems to be redeemed in the end. Note the common thread with Arthur and Merlin of the Flawed Hero.Archetypally the Fisher King is not only the guardian of the Grail mysteries, but is a father God whose potency is restored when the feminine principle, which is also a part of him (as manifested in the Grail), is freed, and when it is reunited with the masculine principle as symbolized by the lance. It is only when his wound heals that fertility and abundance are restored.

TALIESIN {tal-i-ess-in} (Welsh) "Radiant Brow", Prince of Song; Chief of the Bards of the West; a poet. Patron of Druids, Bards, and minstrels; a shape-shifter. Writing, poetry; wisdom; wizards; Bards; music; knowledge; magic.A semi-mythical figure whose life has become deeply intertwined with the Divinities of the Celts. He apparently lived in the 6th century CE, and was regarded as the premier bard, or poet of his or any other time. A book of his work exists, set down in the 13th century; several of the works within it are regarded as genuine. He figures in many tales, but chief among them is the story that he began as the boy Gwion, was asked by the Cauldron-Crone Cerridwen to watch the vessel in which she brewed a Knowledge potion, inadvertently tasted it himself, was pursued by her in a chase involving many shapeshifts, and was at length swallowed by Her, to be reborn nine months later as the Divine bard Taliesin

MABON (Welsh) {MAH-bahn or BAY-bone] Also maponos and Maponus. Mabon means "great son", the child of Modred whose name means "great mother". He was stolen from Modron at three years old and later rescued by King Arthur.Mabon's myths overlap those of Gwyn Ap Nuad, and they may have once been the same deity. Mabon rode wild horses, had prized guardian hunting hounds, and he may have been an actual ruler of Wales who later came into myth.He is also a minor sun God, yet he represents the power in darkness. His images transcend all the life stages of other Gods. He is a king of death and the Otherworld, a deity of the harvest and fertility, and was once called "The Divine Youth" by his followers. He represents innocent youth when young, strength and virility as a young man, and the sacrificial God when elderly. His image is linked the hierarchies of sacred animals , and he may have once figured heavily in long lost Celtic creation myths since he is equated with the expelling of and control of the darkness and of storms.Some Celtic traditions see him as the original being, the first God, the first life carved out of the primal void of the divine womb. (Adam/Arthur)He was adopted by the Anglo-Romans as Maponus and was honored at Hadrian's Wall. He is sometimes called a masculine Persephone, or the Celtic Dionysus because of his linkage with the grape harvest.

Le FAY (Welsh, Cornish) LeFay was a Goddess of the sea and of the Isle of Avalon. She was an efficacious healer, and drinking water blessed by her provided and instant cure for all ills. Scholars debate whether the "fay" in her name refers to faery, fate, or some blending of both.

HERNE / CERNUNNOS (Pan-Celtic) [KER-noo-nos] Known to all Celtic areas in one form or another. The Horned God; God of Nature; God of the Underworld and the Astral Plane; Great Father; "the Horned One". The Druids knew him as Hu Gadarn, The Horned God of fertility. He was portrayed sitting in a lotus position with horns or antlers on his head, long curling hair, a beard, naked except for a neck torque, and sometimes holding a spear and shield. His symbols were the stag, ram, bull, and horned serpent. Sometimes called Belatucadros and Vitiris. Virility, fertility, animals, physical love, nature, woodlands, reincarnation, crossroads, wealth, commerce, warriors. Cernunnos is a Greek name, one of the many names of the European Great Horned God. Whatever his original Celtic name might have been has been lost to history.Cernunnos appears to have been recognized in the region of Gaul, that is now central France, as the God Dispater. He is typically drawn as a man bearing the antlers of a stag, not necessarily representing an animal spirit but a deity closely involved with animals and one that can transform instantly into animal shape. In the Celtic world, horns and antlers were generally regarded as symbols of virility and fertility. On the Celtic Gundestrup Bowl from Denmark, Cernunnos is attended by a boar - an animal revered by the Celts for its speed, pugnacity and magickal connotations - and on the same vessel he seems to be associated with a bull. This later link reappears on a stone relief from Reims. Cernunnos is also depicted in association with snakes, sometimes bearing rams' horns, as on a stone relief found at Cirencester in England. His legs may be replaced by snakes, and at Sommerecourt (Haute Marne) a relief was found depicting the god in company with an unnamed goddess holding a basket and feeding a snake. The snake symbolism is generally associated with rejuvenation. Other reliefs show him holding purses of money.He is equated with the Greek God Pan whose name means 'all'. Both Cerunnos and Pan became the prototype for the Christian anti-God, Satan. This was not a judgment on the attributes of these deities, but rather a device for frightening the European populace away from the Old Religion.Also: Cernawain; Cernenus; Herne the Hunter; Kernunos

GREEN MAN, THE (Also see Cernunnos.) A horned deity of trees and green growing things of Earth; god of the woodlands. In Old Welsh his name is Arddhu (the Dark One), Atho, or the Horned God.One of the most ancient figures in European tradition, pre-dating perhaps even the Aryan invasions. He seems to be a God of vegetative strength, a masculine figure of fertility and life-energy. He is usually imaged as a large or giant male, clad entirely, or perhaps actually composed entirely, in green leaves. He appears on the fringes of popular awareness in a bewildering number of guises: his archetype may be recognized in as widely divergent sources as the central figure in the 14th century poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight on the one hand, and on the other as the basis behind the modern commercial image of the Jolly Green Giant®.His is an image which transcended all other Celtic God forms and became a version of the Christian Devil every bit as potent as the Horned God. His randy woodland image became firmly linked in the minds of the churchmen with "evil" witches who cavorted with him under the light of the full moon. He is possibly an Oak King image, a symbol of fertility and of the waxing year. He is also linked to Cernunnos, the Horned God of the wild. Archetypally, he is the male fertility principle of the Earth Mother.

HOLLY KING & OAK KING (Pan-Celtic) The Holly King and the Oak King are two sacrificial Gods who, in the manner of such deities, are two aspects of the same being. The Holly King represents the waning year, and battles the Oak King at Midsummer (probably once at Bealtaine) for rulership. Likewise, the Oak King is the God of the waxing year, and battles with the Holly King at Yule (probably once at Samhain) for the same honor.

CRONE, THE (Pan-Celtic) One aspect of the Triple Goddess. She represents old age or death, Winter, the end of all things, the waning moon, post-menstrual phases of women's lives, all destruction that precedes regeneration through her cauldron of rebirth. Crows and other black creatures are sacred to her. Dogs often accompanied her and guarded the gates of her after-world, helping her receive the dead. In Celtic myth, the gatekeeper-dog was named Dormarth (Death's Door). The Irish Celts maintained that true curses could be cast with the aid of a dog. Therefore, they used the word cainte (dog) for a satiric Bard with the magic power to speak curses that came true.

GWYN AP NUAD (Welsh) King of the Fairies and the underworld. Later he became King of the Plant Annwn, or subterranean fairies. His name means "white son of darkness" and he was the child of the sun/death God Llud, also called Nuad or Nudd, the leader of the hunt.God of war, death, and the hunt, and a patron God of fallen warriors. He is equated with Ireland's Fionn MacCumhal as both Gwyn and Fion mean "white". As the master hunter, he rode a wild horse and had three massive hounds; one red, one black, and one white. In an early Welsh poem he is a God of battle and of the Underworld, the escort of dead souls to Annwn. Rural people claim they can sometimes hear his wild chase at night. (The hunt is a metaphor for gathering souls for the Otherworld.)Today he is often thought of as king of the Tylwyth Teg, the faeries of Wales who can be equated with the Tuatha of Ireland. Modern legend has him living on the summit of high Welsh hills looking down on his people.

Artus

Is he the real Arthur?

Arthurian Time Line

33-37 AD - Christianity is said, by Gildas, to have come to Britain sometime during the latter part of the reign of Tiberius Caesar who ruled from 14-37 AD: Meanwhile these islands, stiff with cold and frost, and in a distant region of the world, remote from the visible sun, received the beams of light, that is, the holy precepts of Christ, the true Sun, showing to the whole world his splendour, not only from the temporal firmament, but from the height of heaven, which surpasses every thing temporal, at the latter part, as we know, of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, by whom his religion was propagated without impediment, and death threatened to those who interfered with Its professors.And, since Joseph of Arimathea is often credited with being the one who first introduced Christianity to Britain, then it is not too far-fetched to assume that the two must've arrived together. Christ is believed to have been crucified in 32 AD and allowing a year as a minimum time to organize and launch a mission, then Joseph could have come to Britain, at the very earliest, in 33 AD or at the latest, 37 AD. This assumes, of course, that Gildas can be trusted on this point. We report this not to suggest that it is true, merely to include it in the record for completeness.63 - Joseph of Arimathea came to Glastonbury on the first Christian mission to Britain. Legend says that he brought with him the Holy Grail, which was either a cup/bowl or two "cruets" thought to contain the blood and sweat of the crucified Christ.184 - Lucius Artorius Castus, commander of a detachment of Sarmatian conscripts stationed in Britain, led his troops to Gaul to quell a rebellion. This is the first appearance of the name, Artorius, in history and some believe that this Roman military man is the original, or basis, for the Arthurian legend. The theory says that Castus' exploits in Gaul, at the head of a contingent of mounted troops, are the basis for later, similar traditions about "King Arthur," and, further, that the name "Artorius" became a title, or honorific, which was ascribed to a famous warrior in the fifth century.383 - Magnus Maximus (Macsen Wledig), a Spaniard, was proclaimed Emperor in Britain by the island's Roman garrison. With an army of British volunteers, he quickly conquered Gaul, Spain and Italy.388 - Maximus occupied Rome itself. Theodosius, the eastern Emperor, defeated him in battle and beheaded him in July, 388, with many of the remnant of Maximus' troops settling in Armorica. The net result to Britain was the loss of many valuable troops needed for the island's defense (the "first migration").395 - Theodosius, the last emperor to rule an undivided empire, died, leaving his one son, Arcadius, emperor in the East and his other son, the young Honorius, emperor in the West. At this point the office of Roman Emperor changed from a position of absolute power to one of being merely a head of state.396 - The Roman general, Stilicho, acting as regent in the western empire during Honorius' minority, reorganized British defenses decimated by the Magnus Maximus debacle. Began transfer of military authority from Roman commanders to local British chieftains.397 - The Roman commander, Stilicho, comes to Britain and repels an attack by Picts, Irish and Saxons.402 - Events on the continent force Stilicho to recall one of the two British legions to assist with the defense of Italy against Alaric and the Visigoths. The recalled legion, known as the Sixth Victrix, was said by Claudian (in "De Bello Gallico," 416) to be "that legion which is stretched before the remoter Britons, which curbs the Scot, and gazes on the tattoo-marks on the pale face of the dying Pict." The barbarians were defeated, this time, at battle of Pollentia.403 - Victricius, Bishop of Rouen, visited Britain for the purpose of bringing peace to the island's clergy, who were in the midst of a dispute, possibly over the Pelagian heresy.405 - The British troops, which had been recalled to assist Stilicho, were never returned to Britain as they had to stay in Italy to fight off another, deeper penetration by the barbarian chieftain, Radagaisus.406 - In early January, 406, a combined barbarian force (Suevi, Alans, Vandals & Burgundians) swept into central Gaul, severing contact between Rome and Britain. In autumn 406, the remaining Roman army in Britain decided to mutiny. One Marcus was proclaimed emperor in Britain, but was immediately assassinated.407 - In place of the assassinated Marcus, Gratian was elevated "to the purple," but lasted only four months. Constantine III was hailed as the new emperor by Roman garrison in Britian. He proceeded to follow the example of Magnus Maximus by withdrawing the remaining Roman legion, the Second Augusta, and crossing over into Gaul to rally support for his cause. Constantine's departure could be what Nennius called "the end of the Roman Empire in Britain. . ."408 - With both Roman legions withdrawn, Britain endures devastating attacks by the Picts, Scots and Saxons.409 - Prosper, in his chronicle, says, "in the fifteenth year of Honorius and Arcadius (409), on account of the languishing state of the Romans, the strength of the Britons was brought to a desperate pass." Under enormous pressure, Britons take matters into their own hands, expelling weak Roman officials and fighting for themselves.410 - Britain gains "independence" from Rome. The Goths, under Alaric, sack Rome.413 - Pelagian heresy said to have begun, by Prosper (Tiro) of Aquitaine in his "Chronicle."420-30 - Pelagian heresy outlawed in Rome (418), but in Britain, enjoys much support from "pro-Celtic" faction. Traditionalists (pro-Romans) support Roman church. During this time, according to Prosper, Britain is ruled by petty "tyrants."429 - At the request of Palladius, a British deacon, Pope Celestine I dispatches bishops Germanus of Auxerre and Lupus of Troyes to Britain to combat Pelagian heresy. While in Britain, Germanus, a former military man, leads Britons to "Hallelujah" victory in Wales.c.438 - Probable birth of Ambrosius Aurelianus, scion of the leading Romano-British family on the island.c.440-50 - Period of civil war and famine in Britain, caused by ruling council's weakness and inability to deal with Pictish invasions; situation aggravated by tensions between Pelagian/Roman factions. Vacated towns and cities in ruin. Migration of pro-Roman citizens toward west. Country beginning to be divided, geographically, along factional lines.c.441 - Gallic Chronicle records, prematurely, that "Britain, abandoned by the Romans, passed into the power of the Saxons."c.445 - Vortigern comes to power in Britain.446 - Britons (probably the pro-Roman party) appeal to Aetius, Roman governor of Gaul, for military assistance in their struggle against the Picts and the Irish (Scots). No help could be sent, at this time, as Aetius had his hands full with Attila the Hun.c.446 - Vortigern authorizes the use of Saxon mercenaries, known as foederati, for the defense of the northern parts against barbarian attack. To guard against further Irish incursions, Cunedda and his sons are moved from Manau Gododdin in northern Britain to northwest Wales.447 - Second visit of St. Germanus (this time accompanied by Severus, Bishop of Trier) to Britain. Was this visit spiritually motivated, to combat a revived Pelagian threat or was Germanus sent in Aetius' stead, to do whatever he could to help the desperate Britons?c.447 - Britons, aroused to heroic effort, "inflicted a massacre" on their enemies, the Picts and Irish, and were left in peace, for a brief time. Could this heroic effort have been led, again, by St. Germanus?c.448 - Death of St. Germanus in Ravenna. Civil war and plague ravage Britain.c.450 - In the first year of Marcian and Valentinian, Hengest arrives on shores of Britain with "3 keels" of warriors, and are welcomed by Vortigern. This event is known in Latin as the "adventus Saxonum," the coming of the Saxons.c.452 - Increasing Saxon settlement in Britain. Hengest invites his son, Octha, from Germany with "16 keels" of warriors, who occupy the northern lands, to defend against the Picts. Picts never heard from, again.c.453 - Increasing Saxon unrest. Raids on British towns and cities becoming more frequent.c.456 - Geoffrey of Monmouth tells us of a probably fictitious, but entirely believable event in which Saxons massacre 300 leading British noblemen at phony "peace" conference. Ambrosius' father, possibly the leader of the pro-Roman faction, may have been killed either during the Saxon uprising or this massacre.c.457 - Death of Vortigern. Vitalinus (Guitolinus) new leader of pro-Celtic Pelagian faction. Battle of Aylesford (Kent) in which Ambrosius, along with sons of Vortigern, Vortimer and Cateyrn, defeat Hengest for the first time.c.458 - Saxon uprising in full-swing. Hengest finally conquers Kent, in southeastern Britain.c.458-60 - Full-scale migration of British aristocrats and city-dwellers across the English Channel to Brittany, in northwestern Gaul (the "second migration"). British contingent led by Riothamus (perhaps a title, not a name), thought by some to be the original figure behind the legends of Arthur.c.460-70 - Ambrosius Aurelianus takes full control of pro-Roman faction and British resistance effort; leads Britons in years of back-and-forth fighting with Saxons. British strategy seems to have been to allow Saxon landings and to then contain them, there.c.465 - Arthur probably born around this time.c.466 - Battle of Wippedesfleot, in which Saxons defeat Britons, but with great slaughter on both sides. Mutual "disgust and sorrow" results in a respite from fighting "for a long time."c.466-73 - Period of minimal Saxon activity. Refortification of ancient hillforts and construction of the Wansdyke possibly takes place during this time.c.469 - Roman emperor, Anthemius, appeals to Britons for military help against the Visigoths. Reliable accounts by Sidonius Apolonaris and Jordanes name the leader of the 12,000 man British force, Riothamus. The bulk of the British force was wiped out in battle against Euric, the Visigothic king, and the survivors, including Riothamus, vanished and were never heard from, again.c.470 - Battle of Wallop (Hampshire) where Ambrosius defeats Vitalinus, head of the opposing faction. Ambrosius assumes High-kingship of Britain.473 - Men of Kent, under Hengest, move westward, driving Britons back before them "as one flees fire."477 - Saxon chieftain, Aelle, lands on Sussex coast with his sons. Britons engage him upon landing but his superior force drives them into the forest (Weald). Over next nine years, Saxon coastal holdings are gradually expanded in Sussex.c.480 - "Vita Germani," the Life of St. Germanus, written by a continental biographer, Constantius.c.485-96 - Period of Arthur's "twelve battles" during which he gains reputation for invincibility.486 - Aelle and his sons overreach their normal territory and are engaged by Britons at battle of Mercredesburne. Battle is bloody, but indecisive, and ends with both sides pledging friendship.c.490 - Hengest dies. His son, Aesc, takes over and rules for 34 years.c.495 - Cerdic and Cynric, his son, land somewhere on the south coast, probably near the Hampshire-Dorset border.c.496 - Britons, under overall command of Ambrosius and battlefield command of the "war leader" Arthur, defeat Saxons at the Siege of Mount Badon.c.496-550 - Following the victory at Mt. Badon, the Saxon advance is halted with the invaders returning to their own enclaves. A generation of peace ensues. Corrupt leadership, more civil turmoil, public forgetfulness and individual apathy further erode Romano-British culture over next fifty years, making Britain ripe for final Saxon "picking."c.501 - The Battle of Llongborth (probably Portsmouth), where a great British chieftain, Geraint, King of Dumnonia, was killed. Arthur is mentioned in a Welsh poem commemorating the battle.508 - Cerdic begins to move inland and defeats British king Natanleod near present-day Southampton.c.515 - Death of Aelle. Kingdom of Sussex passed to his son, Cissa and his descendents, but over time, diminished into insignificance.519 - Kingdom of the West Saxons (Wessex) founded with Cerdic its first ruler.c.530-40 - Mass migration of Celtic monks to Brittany (the "third migration").534 - Death of Cerdic. Cynric takes kingship of Wessex.c.540 - Probable writing of Gildas' "De Excidio Britanniae."c.542 - Battle of Camlann, according to Annales Cambriae. Death (or unspecified other demise) of Arthur (according to Geoffrey of Monmouth).c.547 - "Yellow" Plague hits British territories, causing many deaths. Ireland also affected. Saxons, for whatever reason, are unaffected by it.c.570 - Probable death of Gildas.c.600 - Welsh bard, Aneirin, writes poem, Y Gododdin, alluding to Arthur's prowess as a warrior.c.600-700 - Original Welsh triads probably composed; only later, medieval collections survive.c.830 - Nennius compiles Historia Brittonum.c.890 - Compilation of Anglo Saxon Chronicle is begun, perhaps at the direction of Alfred the Great.c.970 - Annales Cambriae compiled.c.1019 - Earliest possible date of composition for the Legend of St. Goeznovius, a Breton legend, which, in its preface, mentions Arthur and calls him the King of the Britons. Date is disputed as some scholars think this legend should be dated later than Geoffrey of Monmouth.c.1090 - Professional hagiographers, such as Caradoc of Llancarfan, Lifris and others, write various saints lives, some (St. Gildas, St. Padarn, St. Cadog, St. Iltud) include mentions of Arthur and his exploits.1125 - William of Malmesbury completes "Gesta Regum Anglorum" (Deeds of the Kings of England), in which he states, "this is that Arthur of whom the trifling of the Britons talks such nonsense, even today; a man clearly worthy not to be dreamed of in fallacious fables, but to be proclaimed in veracious histories. as one who long sustained his tottering country and gave the shattered minds of his fellow citizens an edge for war."The "Gesta" is significant, not only for the information it contains, but also for the fact that in its later editions (the third edition was written in the 1130's), William includes long passages lifted verbatim from the "De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae." All original manuscripts of the "De Antiquitate" are now lost and the only ones that remain are corrupt later interpolations. These interpolations were produced with the idea of supporting Glastonbury Abbey's connections with certain legendary characters (e.g. Joseph of Arimathea, King Arthur, Melkin, St. Patrick). From the "Gesta" we can see what William had actually written in the "De Antiquitate."c.1129 - William of Malmesbury in residence at Glastonbury Abbey, where he writes "De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae," a history of the abbey.1129 - Henry of Huntingdon's "Historia Anglorum" is based on Bede, Nennius and the AngloSaxon Chronicle.1136 - Geoffrey of Monmouth publishes the famous "Historia Regum Britanniae" (History of the Kings of Britain), in Latin. His work would be used as the standard text on British history for the next 600 years.1139 - In a letter to Warinus, Henry of Huntingdon describes Arthur's last battle and mentions that the Bretons say that he didn't die and are still waiting for his return..c.1145 - Geoffrey Gaimar publishes "Estoire des Angles" (History of the English), a French adaptation of Geoffrey's "History," which is now lost.1151 - Geoffrey of Monmouth appointed to bishopric of St. Asaph in Wales, but never actually visits there.1155 - Master (Robert) Wace completes "Roman de Brut," a version of Geoffrey's "History" in French. He dedicated his work to Eleanor of Aquitaine, the wife of Henry II, and is remembered as being the first writer to introduce the concept of the "Round Table" to the Arthurian cycle. Of Arthur, Wace says, "I know not if you have heard tell the marvellous gestes and errant deeds related so often of King Arthur. They have been noised about this mighty realm for so great a space that the truth has turned to fable and an idle song. Such rhymes are neither sheer bare lies, nor gospel truths. They should not be considered either an idiot's tale, or given by inspiration. The minstrel has sung his ballad, the storyteller told over his tale so frequently, little by little he has decked and painted, till by reason of his embellishment the truth stands hid in the trappings of a tale. Thus to make a delectable tune to your ear, history goes masking as fable.c.1160-80 - Marie de France writes "Lais" (Lays), a collection of short poems. Two of the poems, "Chevrefueil" and "Lanval," include Arthurian characters and themes.c.1160-90 - Chretien de Troyes, the greatest of the medieval romance writers, makes his five contributions to the Arthurian cycle during this period. His Arthurian works are: "Eric et Enide," "Cliges" "Le Chevalier de la Charette" (The Knight of the Cart, or Lancelot), "Yvain" (or Le Chevalier au Lion, The Knight with the Lion) and "Perceval" (Le Conte del Graal, The Story of the Graal).Chretien's work is noteworthy, not only for its quality, but for the introduction and further development of certain characters and themes into the Arthurian literature. He is, also, the first to apply the literary form of the romance, to the transmission of the stories of Arthur.It is Chretien who first tells us of the Grail (Graal), but he never equated it with the cup of the Last Supper or the cup used to catch the blood of Christ. The word, grail, a commonly used term in the middle ages, simply referred to a dish or plate of a particular kind. One Helinand of Froidmont wrote in the 13th century ". . .a wide and somewhat deep dish in which expensive meats are customarily placed for the rich. . .and it is commonly called a grail" (Lacy, Norris J., ed., The Arthurian Encyclopedia, Peter Bedrick Books, New York, 1986, p.257). Chretien used the grail as a symbol of beauty and mystery, but he never presented it as an object of religious devotion (the spiritual aspect was introduced by later writers).Chretien de Troyes is remembered as the first writer to give the name of Camelot to Arthur's headquarters and capital city. He, also, is responsible for the introduction of the famous knights, Lancelot, Gawain and Perceval, into the literature of Arthurian legend.c.1170 - Beroul, a French poet, writes "Roman de Tristan," believed to be one of the earliest extant versions of the story of Tristan and Yseult, and independent of any other versions. The story, as told by Beroul, is connected with the mainstream of Arthurian legend through its chief antagonist, King Mark of Cornwall. The mention of the church of St. Samson in Cornwall, as the wedding place of Mark and Yseult, provides some basis for localizing the legend around the area of Fowey. Dating of "Roman de Tristan" is somewhat uncertain and may have been written a few years later.c.1175 - Thomas d'Angleterre, an Anglo-Norman, writing in England, produces poem, "Tristan," which would later inspire Gottfried von Strassburg's poem of the same name. Thomas' poem, with Beroul's, is one of only two twelfth century Old French tellings of the Tristan and Yseult story.A writer, known as the monk of Ursicampum, enlarged the chronicle of Siegebert of Gembloux and raised, perhaps for the first time, the possibility that King Arthur may have been the historical British king Riothamus. This same equation, although in far less direct terms, was made subsequently by the writers of the "Chronicles of Anjou" and the "Salzbury Annals," and by Albericus Trium Fontium (1227-51), Martinus Polonus (c.1275), Jacques de Guise (late 14th C.) and Philippe de Vigneulles (1525). In a 1799 work called the "History of the Anglo Saxons," Sharon Turner equates Arthur with Riothamus and in modern times, Professor Leon Fleuriot and Geoffrey Ashe are the main champions of the idea.1184 - Great fire ravages Glastonbury Abbey destroying Old Church.1190 - Discovery of Arthur's grave between two pyramids in cemetary at Glastonbury Abbey.c.1190 - Layamon (pronounced "lawmon"), a priest of Arley Regis, Worcestershire, publishes "Brut," an English translation of Wace into alliterative verse. Although the dating of "Brut" is uncertain, his work marks the first appearance of the Arthurian story in English.1192-3 - Gerald of Wales visits Glastonbury, reports on exhumation of Arthur's grave in "Liber de Principis Instructione."c.1195-1205 - Hartmann von Aue, a German court poet, produces two Arthurian romances, "Erek" and "Iwein," inspired by Chretien's "Eric et Enide" and "Yvain." Hartmann is the first to introduce Arthurian literature to Germany.c.1198 - William of Newburgh writes "Historia Rerum Anglicarum," a history of Britain beginning with the Conquest of 1066. The preface, however, tries to place Arthur in a historical context and uses the works of Gildas and Bede to harshly criticize Geoffrey of Monmouth's claims for him, concluding that Arthur and Merlin are fictitious.c.1200 - "The Dream of Rhonabwy," last of the Mabinogion tales to be completed, takes place in the time of the historical character, Madawg, son of Maredudd, king of Powys, who died in 1159. Tale refers to Arthur as Emperor, and compares glories of his legendary kingdom with hardships of twelfth century Wales.c.1200-10 - Wolfram von Eschenbach, the greatest of the German epic poets, produces "Parzifal," his masterful expansion of Chretien's "Perceval." Wolfram's epic would, centuries later, become the inspiration for Wagner's 1882 opera, "Parsifal."c.1210 - Robert de Boron, in "Joseph d'Arimathie" and "Estoire del Saint Graal," is responsible for transforming Chretien's "grail" into "The Holy Grail." Robert saw something spiritual in Chretien's secular grail and transformed it into the cup which Joseph of Arimathea allegedly used to catch the blood dripping from Christ's crucifixion wounds, and the object of many "Quests" undertaken by Arthur's knights. Robert is the first to claim that Joseph and his family brought the Grail to unspecified parts of Britain. Subsequent accounts localized it in the vicinity of Glastonbury.Gottfried von Strassburg produces, "Tristan," the classic version of the love story, basing it on Thomas d'Angleterre's earlier poem. Wagner would use Gottfried's work as basis for his 1859 opera of the same name.c.1210-30 - Vulgate (Lancelot-Grail) Cycle, a series of Arthurian tales, in French, which attempt to tell the whole history of the Grail and to recount the quests of the Grail knights. During this period, stories transition from verse to prose, and as change progresses, material takes on more historical and religious overtones. Cycle included: "Estoire del Saint Graal," Estoire de Merlin," "Lancelot du Lac" (also Roman du Lancelot), "Queste del Saint Graal" and "Mort Artu."c.1216 - Gerald of Wales writes his second, and slightly different, account of the discovery of Arthur's grave in "Speculum Ecclesiae."c.1220 - Ralph of Coggeshall mentions discovery of Arthur's grave in his "English Chronicle."c.1250 - Mabinogion, a collection of eleven Welsh folk tales and legends (some of which mention Arthur), takes final form, although some scholars argue for a much earlier date of c.1000. Collection includes such well-known tales as Culhwch and Olwen, "The Dream of Rhonabwy," "Gereint and Enid," "The Dream of Maxen" "Branwen Daughter of Llyr," "Peredur Son of Evrawg," etc."Llyfr Du Caerfyrddin" (Black Book of Carmarthen) compiled. Thought to be the work of one scribe, possibly working at the Priory of St John at Carmarthen, it contains 38 items, almost all poetry, including: Englynion y Beddau, Gereint fab Erbin, religious verses and "Merlin" poems.Interpolated version of William of Malmesbury's "De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae" written by Glastonbury monks (probably Adam of Domerham), including much questionable material never included in William's original work.1278 - Edward I and Queen Eleanor of Castille visit Glastonbury Abbey to officially reinter the remains of Arthur and Guinevere in the new abbey church. King Arthur's cross is placed on top of the black marble tomb. Edward proclaims his son, Edward of Caernarvon, Prince of Wales, and positions himself as the legitimate successor of Arthur.1300 - In Robert of Gloucester's "Chronicle" he states that the Britons of Wales had been converted to Christianity by Phagan and Deruvian (middle 2nd Century), who had built the first church in England at Glastonbury.c.1300 - A chronicle of Margam Abbey (Wales) tells of the discovery of Arthur's grave.1307 - Publication of Peter Langtoft's "Chronicle," which updates Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History" through Edward I's reign. In it he praises Arthur as the greatest of kings.c.1325 - "Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch" (White Book of Rhydderch), an incomplete version of Mabinogion, contains "Culhwch and Olwen," the "Dream of Macsen Wledig" and many religious texts. A portion of the original manuscript is now lost.c.1340 - "Joseph of Arimathie," an alliterative poem written in English, pays particular attention to Joseph's activities after the Resurrection of Christ and portrays him as an Apostolic evangelist as well as the keeper of the Grail.c.1350 - "Cronica sive Antiquitates Glastoniensis Ecclesiae" (Chronicle or Antiquities of the Church of Glastonbury), by John Seen, a monk of Glastonbury, continuing the history of the abbey originally begun by William of Malmesbury 220 years before. Much Arthurian material is here, including an account of the discovery of his grave and a prophecy of Melkin, allegedly a 5th century British bard, in which the grail and the grave of Joseph of Arimathea are said to have been at Glastonbury.c.1370-90 - Geoffrey Chaucer's "The Canterbury Tales" are believed to have been written during this period. Two of the tales, the Squire's and the Wife of Bath's, make direct references to Arthurian characters or themes.c.1400 - "Llyfr Coch Hergest" (Red Book of Hergest), the earliest complete version of the Mabinogion, is one of the most important Welsh medieval manuscripts. At 362 folios, it is the largest. The manuscript is dated between 1382 and 1410, and contains examples of many kinds of Welsh literature, excepting only the laws and religious texts. It includes: the "History of the Kings of Britain" of Geoffrey of Monmouth, "Brut y Tywysogyon," a series of Triads, "Gereint fab Erbin", "The Dream of Rhonabwy" and others. Its contents are similar to those of Llyfr Gwyn Rhydderch.c.1430 - John Capgrave, a friar at King's Lynn, Norfolk, publishes "De Sancto Joseph ab Aramathea," in which he states, quoting from an unnamed manuscript, "Philip sent from a Gaul a hundred and sixty disciples to assist Joseph and his companions."But, it was not until the third edition (composed in the late 15th c.) of his "Nova Legenda Angliae," printed by Wynkyn de Worde in 1516, that a life of St. Joseph of Arimathea was included.c.1450 - Herry Lovelich's "History of the Holy Grail," the first English translation of the French Vulgate tale, "Estoire del Saint Graal." In the Vulgate, Josephes, Joseph's son is the protagonist in the British portion of the tale. In Lovelich's version, the emphasis is switched to Joseph of Arimathea and his conversion activities in Britain, but his connection with the Grail is diminished. "Llyfr Gwyn Hergest" (the White Book of Hergest) may have been a manuscript of some importance. Several descriptions of its contents indicate that it contained: "Y Bibyl Ynghymraec," the "Laws," a copy of the "Statute of Rhuddlan," and strict metre poetry. It was destroyed by fire in the nineteenth century. Partial transcripts are preserved in both the British Library and the National Library of Wales.1465 - John Hardyng completes his "Chronicle," blending Glastonbury and Grail traditions in the process. He connects Arthur and Joseph of Arimathea, whom he credits with constructing the original Round Table. The "Chronicle" brings Joseph to Britain in 76 AD, after a 42 year period of imprisonment, and attributes to him the conversion of the land to Christianity. Hardyng's work is an indication of the extent to which the Glastonbury traditions of Joseph and Arthur had integrated themselves into the mainstream.1469-70 - Completion of "Morte d'Arthur" by Sir Thomas Malory of Newbold Revel, Warwichshire, while in London's Newgate Prison. Malory's work is the definitive English Arthurian romance and embodies many earlier French and Welsh tradtitions. He accepts Joseph of Arimathea's association with Glastonbury, but distances him from the Grail.1482 - "Polychronicon," the most popular source of world history available in England, published by Ranulf Higden, a Benedictine monk from Cheshire. In it he questioned Geoffrey of Monmouth's basis for his claims of Arthur's continental conquests.1485 - William Caxton's first printing of Malory's "Morte d'Arthu," giving wider circulation to the Glastonbury, Arthur and Joseph traditions.c.1533-39 - "Itinerary," the modern title given to the collection of notes made by John Leland, Henry VIII's court antiquary, during his extensive travels for the purpose of documenting the historical treasures of England. There are several items of Arthurian significance: in his notes on the county of Somerset, Leland relates a tradition equating the ancient hillfort, Cadbury Castle, with King Arthur's Camelot; also in Somerset, Leland tells us that "a bridge of four stone arches which is known as Pomparles (over the River Brue near Glastonbury) is the place where, "according to legend, that King Arthur cast his sword into it;" in his Cornwall notes, Leland discusses a river in the Camelford area. He says, "in some histories it is called Cablan. It was beside this river that Arthur fought his last battle (Camlann), and evidence of this, in the form of bones and harness, is uncovered when the site is ploughed."1534 - Polydore Vergil completes "Anglica Historia" in which he is critical of Geoffrey of Monmouth's history, in general, and his portrayal of Arthur, in particular. He even goes so far as to question Arthur's existence.1539 - Dissolution of Glastonbury Abbey, after which Arthur's burial cross is said to have lain in the "Reverstry" of St. John Baptist, Glastonbury (according to a late 17th century document, Bodleian Rawlinson B.416A, folio 10v) for approximately a hundred years.1544 - Leland publishes "Assertio Inclytissimi Arturii" (Assertions of the Renowned Arthur), a compilation of most of the archaeological and literary evidence for King Arthur, as it was known in Tudor England. Here, Leland notes the inscription on the burial cross, allegedly belonging to King Arthur's grave, found at Glastonbury. The editor of the "Assertio" commented that "his disquisition upon Arthur is more notable for heat than light."1599 - Edmund Spenser dies leaving his Arthurian poem, "The Faerie Queene," unfinished. In it Arthur portrays "magnanimity," to Spenser's mind, the leading virtue.1607 - Publication of William Camden's "Britannia," including illustrations of King Arthur's Burial Cross.c.1650 - Puritans chop down original Glastonbury Thorn on Wearyall Hill, said to have grown from the staff of Joseph of Arimathea, which, legend says, he planted upon his arrival there in AD 63.1691 - "King Arthur," an opera written by John Dryden with music by Henry Purcell, told the tale of Arthur's battles with the (fictitious) Saxon leader, Oswald.1695, 1697 - Richard Blackmore writes "Prince Arthur" and "King Arthur," two transparently allegorical verse epics incorporating Christian moral themes. In the poems, Arthur is William III; his antagonist, Octa, is James II, and so on.c.1700-20 - The burial cross of King Arthur vanishes from history in the early 18th century. It was last known to be in the possession of one William Hughes, Chancellor of the cathedral of Wells.1808 - In the preface to William Blake's "Milton," the poet writes:And did those feet in ancient timeWalk upon England's mountains green?And was the Holy Lamb of GodOn England's pleasant pastures seen?And did the countenance divineShine forth upon our clouded hills?And was Jerusalem builded hereAmong these dark satanic mills?Bring me my bow of burning gold!Bring me my arrows of desire!Bring me spear! O clouds, unfold!Bring me my chariots of fire!I will not cease from mental flight,Nor shall my sword sleep in my hand, Till we have built JerusalemIn England's green and pleasant land.It is believed that Blake's words hark back to old tradtions which said that Joseph of Arimathea brought the boy, Jesus, to England in the time, unaccounted for in the Bible, between his 12th and 30th years of age.These words were later made famous in a hymn entitled, "Jerusalem." The words were set to music in 1916, by the English composer Hubert Hastings Parry, and later orchestrated by Sir Edward Elgar in 1922. "Jerusalem" was first performed at a Votes for Women concert in 1916.1809 - Sir Walter Scott anonymously publishes "The Bridal of Triermain," a curious blending of Arthurian legend and the Sleeping Beauty story.1822 - William Wordsworth writes "The Egyptian Maid," a poem featuring Merlin and the Lady of the Lake.1840 - Arthurian poems by Ralph Waldo Emerson, "Merlin I" and " Merlin II".c.1850-c.1900 - Gothic Revival inspired many poetic and literary works based on Arthur and Arthurian themes and embodying Victorian moral attitudes and neo-chivalric enthusiasms. Some of the many artists and their works are listed below:Matthew Arnold: "Tristram and Iseult"Gustave Dore: French illustrator, produced a collection of thirty-six drawings to illustrate an edition of Tennyson's "Idylls of the King."William Morris: "The Defense of Guinevere," "King Arthur's Tomb," "Sir Galahad, A Christmas Mystery," " The Chapel in Lyonesse," "Near Avalon"Dante Gabriel Rossetti: " God's Graal," an unfinished poem: "King Arthur's Tomb," "Lancelot's Vision of the Sangreal," "Sir Tristram and La Belle Yseult Drink the Love Potion," paintings in the pre-Raphaelite style.Algernon Charles Swinburne: "Queen Yseult," "Joyeuse Garde," "Tristram of Lyonesse," "The Tale of Balen," "The Day Before the Trial," "Lancelot."Alfred Lord Tennyson: "The Lady of Shalott," "Sir Galahad," "Sir Launcelot and Queen Guinevere: A Fragment," "Morte d'Arthur," "The Idylls of the King," a cycle of Arthurian poems.1859 - Richard Wagner completes the opera, "Tristan und Isolde."1882 - Wagner's opera, "Parsifal," is performed.1889 - Mark Twain publishes "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court."1893-4 - Aubrey Beardsley contributes over 400 black and white drawings to illustrate John M. Dent's edition of Malory's Morte d' Arthur.1903-10 - Howard Pyle illustrates "The Story of King Arthur and His Knights" and other similar stories.1917 - N.C.Wyeth, star student of Howard Pyle, illustrates "The Boy's King Arthur," an abridgement of Malory.1923 - Thomas Hardy writes "The Queen of Cornwall," a one-act play based on the Tristan and Isolde story.1930-44 - Charles Williams produces most important modern reinterpretations of Arthurian mythology in "War in Heaven" (1930), "Taliessin Through Logres" (1938), and "The Region of the Summer Stars" (1944). The three works cover the entire breadth of the traditional Arthurian story, making them into a moral epic of cosmic proportions. Williams deemphasizes the Guinevere-Lancelot affair, and instead focuses on the mystical aspects of the grail quest, comparing it to human spiritual development.1945 - C.S. Lewis concludes his Space Trilogy with "That Hideous Strength," a tale replete with Arthurian motifs and "grail" characters.1952 - Lewis publishes "Arthurian Torso," a "double" volume containing his friend, Charles Williams', previously unpublished "Figure of Arthur" and Lewis' commentary, "Williams and the Arthuriad."1953 - T.H.White completes the "Once and Future King."1960 - "Camelot," a Lerner and Lowe musical stageplay based on T.H. White's "Once and Future King," is performed on Broadway, starring Richard Burton as King Arthur and Robert Goulet as Lancelot. A Film version, starring Richard Harris as Arthur and Franco Nero as Lancelot, appeared in 1967. Camelot was brought back on stage, this time starring Goulet as Arthur, in a Summer Stock tour of 1996.1962 - "Castle Dor," an updated version (19th century) of the Tristan and Isolde story originally begun by Sir Arthur Quiller-Couch (1863-1944), was completed from his notes by Daphne du Maurier.1963 - "Sword at Sunset" by Rosemary Sutcliff, a realistic telling of the Arthurian story from his own viewpoint.1975 - "Monty Python and the Holy Grail," jokingly said by Geoffrey Ashe to be the most realistic of all celluloid Arthurian depictions, stars Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones and Michael Palin.1977 - "The Acts of King Arthur and his Noble Knights," John Steinbeck's attempt at a modernization of Malory, is published posthumously.1978 - Mary Stewart completes her trilogy of novels focusing on Merlin, "The Crystal Cave" (1970), "The Hollow Hills" (1973) and "The Last Enchantment" (1978).1981 - "Excalibur," an excellent adaptation of Malory by John Boorman, stars Nicol Williamson as Merlin.1982 - "The Mists of Avalon," by Marion Zimmer Bradley, adds a new wrinkle to the Arthurian story, by telling it from the point of view of the women involved in the tale: Igraine, wife of Gorlois; Morgaine, the daughter of Igraine and Gorlois; Morgause, Igraine's younger sister; Viviane, the Lady of the Lake and Gwenhwyfar, Arthur's Queen.1995 - "A Kid in King Arthur's Court," a Disney film recalling Mark Twain's story of a modern who is transported back in time to the days of King Arthur.1995 - "First Knight," a slick Hollywood production starring Sean Connery as Arthur and Richard Gere as Lancelot.1998 - "Merlin," a TV mini-series produced by Robert Halmi, starring Sam Neill in the title role; loosely following Geoffrey of Monmouth in some parts and in others, purely original. Nice scenery, interesting characterization of Merlin, great special effects, but a bit too Hollywood. "Arthurian" Inscription Found at Tintagel - On 6th August 1998, English Heritage revealed that during the last week of digging on the Eastern terraces of Tintagel Island, a broken piece of Cornish slate (8" by 14") was discovered bearing the name "Artognov". It was excavated on July 4th, by Kevin Brady, an archaeologist working with a team from Glasgow University (Scotland). "As the stone came out, when I saw the letters A-R-T, I thought uh-oh..."The stone apparently bears two inscriptions. The upper strongly incized letters have been broken off and are sadly indecipherable. The lower inscription, though fainter, clearly reads "Pater Coliavificit Artognov", which Professor Charles Thomas of Exeter University has carefully translated as "Artognou, father of a descendant of Coll, has had this built". Possibly written by a Gaulish hand, the style of writing is certainly 6th century, a date confirmed by surrounding fragments of 6th century Mediterranean pottery already well known from the Tintagel site. Also found nearby was the remains of the only Spanish glass flagon known from this period of Britain's history. Chris Morris, who has been leading the Scottish based excavation team for the past eight years, believes that the dedicatory "Arthur Stone," as it has already been christened, was placed in the wall of a 6th century stone building which later collapsed soon after it was built. The slate was then reused as drain cover a century later.Though "Artognou" (pronounced arth-new) proves that names similar to that of the great King existed in the, so called, Arthurian period, Chris Morris is sceptical about making too much of the obvious link with King Arthur's traditional birthplace. He believes the stone's importance lies in the fact that it is "the first evidence we have that the skills of reading and writing were handed down in a non-religious context". However, Dr Geoffrey Wainwright, chief archaeologist at the, normally cautious, English Heritage declared the newly discovered link should not be dismissed. "Tintagel has presented us with evidence of a Prince of Cornwall, in the Dark Ages, living in a high-status domestic settlement at the time Arthur lived. It has given us the name of a person, Arthnou. Arthnou was here, that is his name on a piece of stone. It is a massive coincidence at the very least. This is where myth meets history. It's the find of a lifetime." Adrian Gilbert publicises the work of Blackett & Wilson by publishing his 'the Holy Kingdom'.2000 - Publication of 'The Keys to Avalon' in which Blake & Lloyd attempt to relocate all Arthurian locations in Wales.2001 - "The Mists of Avalon," a TV mini-series based on the 1982 book by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Beautiful photography and evocative music highlight this Turner Network Television (TNT) production featuring Oscar winner Anjelica Huston, Emmy winner Julianna Margulies and two-time Academy Award and Golden Globe nominee Joan Allen. According to press materials, the series "delves into the romance, bravery and deceit linking the characters of Arthur's Kingdom and exalts the powerful women behind the throne of King Arthur," but in actuality it merely pretends to significance and provides no analysis or insight, at all. In one of the great casting mistakes of all time (rivaling the decision to allow Kevin Costner to play Robin Hood), Arthur is portrayed as a weak, sniveling little wimp (or, perhaps, the decision was intentional given the obvious gender orientation of the program). Much emphasis seems to be placed on promoting goddess worship and in a telling scene at the end of the film, a statue of the Virgin Mary is said to be nothing more than a christianized version of the old goddess. Establishment of the 'Centre for Arthurian Studies' at the North-East Wales Institute for Higher Education in Wrexham, co-founded by Steve Blake and Scott Lloyd, co-authors of "The Keys of Avalon" (2000) which claims to reveal the "true location of Arthur's kingdom."2003 - "The Mystery of King Arthur, Vol. 1" is released. A Mick Fowler Productions/British History Club History Club enterprise, this series of DVD's explores Arthurian history and legend as has never been done before on-screen.2004 - "King Arthur," a Jerry Bruckheimer film, is released with much fanfare and high expectations. The film, while likable enough as pure entertainment, takes impermissible liberties with history and legend (which is really what the film was supposed to be about). Case in point are Arthur's horse soldiers. Historically, these were troops conscripted out of eastern Europe (Sarmatia) by the Romans and sent to remotest Britain to shore up the island's defenses. Their Roman commander is said to have been one Lucius Artorius Castus, the central character in a not-too-widely-held scholarly theory that casts him as the original figure behind the legend of King Arthur (see timeline entry for 184 AD). One problem with this is that these cavalrymen lived in Britain in the latter half of the second century, 300ish years before the movie was supposed to have taken place, and another is that, in the 180's, the Saxons hadn't arrived in Britain, yet, and wouldn't need battling for a long time to come.Producer Bruckheimer, in his quest to be creatively original, also for the first time in history and legend sees fit to transform the reliably feminine figure of Guinevere into a painted-up, Celtic shield-maiden, fully the equal of any of her male co-combatants in the "manly" arts of war. He might have gotten away with this, had the naturally willowy actress, Keira Knightley, had the physique to make us believe -- but she didn't -- and, as a result, we're left conflicted with memories of what should have been our always-delicate Guinevere, rampaging around a dark age battlefield clad in some of the most improbably revealing and non-protective battle gear in the long history of warfare. The release period (late June - early July) was sprinkled with programs attempting to provide serious analysis of the film, "King Arthur", and the man behind the legend. The History Channel had two such shows, totaling 3 hours of air time and ABC-TV had a 20 minute segment on its PrimeTime Friday "20/20" show. The best of the bunch was clearly the History Channel's "Quest for King Arthur" (June 20th), featuring Arthurian academic luminaries Geoffrey Ashe ("The Discovery of King Arthur" and Secretary of the Camelot Research Committee [see entry for 1966-70]), Christopher Snyder ("The World of King Arthur"), Bonnie Wheeler (Editor of the publication, "Arthuriana") and Jeremy Adams (noted medieval historian from Yale and SMU). Although much material was presented that could've been confusing to the uninitiated, this was probably the most authoritative and satisfying treatment of Arthur's historical and legendary background ever done for television...but, then again, all the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't make the "King Arthur" film into anything more than another swashbuckling knight movie.2005 - IBM's business consulting division trades on Arthur's reputation for wisdom and integrity in a series of TV commercials which portray Arthur as a dark-age CEO eliciting advice from his board members (knights) on a series of timeless, but confounding administrative problems.2006 - The book, "The 101 Most Influential People Who Never Lived: How Characters of Fiction, Myth, Legends, Television, and Movies Have Shaped Our Society, Changed Our Behavior, and Set the Course of History", is released in paperback. King Arthur comes in at #3, behind "The Marlboro Man" at #1 and George Orwell's "Big Brother" at #2 and just ahead of #4 Santa Claus.

The early abbey as imagined by

reconstruction

The Discovery of the Cross: Arthur Association with Glastonbury

The medieval historian, Gerald of Wales, tells us that sometime before he died in 1189, Henry II gave a message to the monks of Glastonbury Abbey regarding the location of the grave of King Arthur. He also tells us that Henry had gotten the information from an unnamed Welsh bard.Gerald's account goes on to say that the Glastonbury monks, presumably acting on this information, had uncovered a hollowed-out log containing two bodies, while digging between two stone pyramids standing together in the abbey cemetary. The log coffin had been buried quite deep, at around 16 feet down. A stone slab cover had been found at the seven foot level, and attached to its underside was an oddly shaped cross with a latin inscription on it, naming the occupants of the coffin as the renowned King Arthur and his queen, Guinevere.Beside Gerald's report written in "Liber de Principis instructione" c.1193, there were several other versions of the discovery of the grave and cross which appeared in various chronicles over the years. Each account was a bit different from the others and either included or omitted details which the others did not. At least five different versions of the inscription on the cross have been reported, and this inconsistency in the details of the story has led many scholars to think that a great hoax was being perpetrated by the Glastonbury monks for the purpose of generating pilgrim traffic to their abbey.Adding to the suspicions aroused by the above inconsistencies, the case for a "monastic hoax" gains more strength when we consider that there were several obvious motives for it:the monks' beloved abbey church, the most glorious in all England and possibly in all of Christendom, had been destroyed by fire in 1184, just a few short years before.the abbey's greatest pilgrim attraction, the "Old Church," England's oldest Christian structure which dated back many hundreds of years, had been burned up with it.the abbey's chief benefactor, the recently deceased Henry II, was no longer in a position to finance their efforts to rebuild and the new king, Richard, was more interested in using his money to go "Crusading."A popular legend, current among the British people, claimed that King Arthur had never actually died and that he would one day return to his people when their need was great. While it is easy for modern people to discount a story like that, the twelfth century was an age of great credulity, and since no one could point to the location of Arthur's actual burial place, the legend couldn't be so easily discounted. Amazingly enough, no one had ever even claimed to know where the grave was, let alone try to identify it. A verse from the Welsh "Stanzas of the Graves" (aka The Graves of the Warriors of Britain), states: There is a grave for March, a grave for Gwythur,a grave for Gwgawn Red-sword;the world's wonder, a grave for ArthurThe historian, William of Malmesbury, confirms that the whereabouts of Arthur's burial place is unknown, and that silly legends have been created as a result: . . .tomb of Arthur is nowhere beheld, whence the ancient ditties fable that he is yet to come.Given the immediate need for cash to rebuild their abbey, the death of their chief benefactor and a willingness to engage in questionable practices to serve what they believed was a noble end, it would take no great leap of the imagination to expect that the Glastonbury monks would come up with some other scheme to raise funds. In King Arthur, it would seem that they had a ready-made solution to their problems: a major legendary figure whose grave could attract all the pilgrims that the Old Church did, and, at the same time, enhance the abbey's reputation for sanctity and prestige as the final resting place of saints and kings.Having said all that, it must be noted that there are a few difficulties with the "monastic hoax" theory. First of all, if we are going to credit the monks with the imagination and effrontery necessary to perpetrate a hoax of this magnitude, then we should also expect them to be able to manage the public relations campaign that would be needed after the "discovery" of Arthur's body.Instead, we see several different accounts of the exhumation of the grave and, over the years, we get several versions of what was inscribed on the cross. The varied accounts of the inscriptions are as follows: Ralph of Coggeshall, "Chronicon Anglicanum," c.1225"Here lies the famous King Arthur, buried in the isle of Avalon"Margam Abbey (Wales), "Chronicle," some date it early 1190's, others, 14th century"Here lies the famous King Arthur, buried in the isle of Avalon"John Leland, 1542"Here lies the famous King Arthur, buried in the isle of Avalon"William Camden, "Britannia," 1607"Here lies the famous King Arthur, buried in the isle of Avalon"Monks of St. Albans, "Chronica Majora," mid- to late-13th Century"Here lies the renowned King Arthur, buried in the isle of Avalon"Adam of Domerham, "Historia de rebus Glastoniensibus," 1291"Here lies interred in the isle of Avalon, the renowned King Arthur"Gerald of Wales, "Liber de Principis instructione," c.1193"Here lies buried the famous King Arthur with Guinevere his second wife in the isle of Avalon"Gerald of Wales, "Speculum Ecclesiae," c.1216"Here lies buried the famous King Arthur in the isle of Avalon with his second wife Guinevere"Shouldn't we expect that if the monks had been willing to risk this deception in the first place, that they would have made sure that everyone was telling the same story? Another troublesome thing is that while the fortuitous timing of the "discovery" of Arthur's grave might seem highly suspicious to us, the monks didn't follow up by doing what we might expect them to have done if they were really trying to pull off a hoax. We would expect them to have launched a major publicity campaign, announcing the discovery to the world. We would expect to find evidence that a major influx of pilgrims had been planned for. We would expect to find documentary and literary evidence that Glastonbury had, in fact, become a more important place of pilgrimage than it had already been.Surprisingly, we see none of that. Other than a few mentions in monastic chronicles through the years, there is no record of any "advertising blitz." There were no new structures built to enshrine the bodies or to house or otherwise accommodate the pilgrims. And there was nothing written to suggest that the "discovery" at Glastonbury attracted any unusual attention, at all.

Glastonbury

ruins

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Abbey, founded in the seventh century, was a rich and powerful monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. It became associated with the legends of the Holy Grail and King Arthur in the tenth century.Saxon eraA community of monks were already established at Glastonbury when King Ine of Wessex enriched their endowment. He is said to have directed that a stone church be built in 712, the foundations of which now form the west end of the nave. Glastonbury was ravaged by the Danes in the ninth century. The contemporary reformed soldier Saint Neot was sacristan at Glastonbury before he went to found his own establishment in Somerset. The abbey church was enlarged in the tenth century by the Abbot of Glastonbury, Saint Dunstan, the central figure in the tenth-century revival of English monastic life, who instituted the Benedictine Rule at Glastonbury. Dunstan became Archbishop of Canterbury in 960. Dunstan built new cloisters as well. In 967, King Edmund was laid to rest at Glastonbury. In 1016 Edmund Ironside, who had lost England to Canute but held onto the title of King of Wessex, was buried there too. King Cnut's charter of 1032 was "written and promulgated in the wooden church at Glastonbury, in the kings presence".Norman conquestAt the Norman Conquest in 1066, the wealth of Glastonbury made it a prime prize. The new Norman abbot, Turstin, added to the church, unusually building to the east of the older Saxon church and away from the ancient cemetery, thus shifting the sanctified site. Not all the new Normans were suitable heads of religious communities. In 1077, Thurstin was dismissed after his armed retainers killed monks right by the High Altar. In 1086, when Domesday Book was commissioned, Glastonbury Abbey was the richest monastery in the country. Abbot Henry of Blois commissioned a history of Glastonbury, about 1125, from the chronicler William of Malmesbury, whose De Antiquitate Glastoniensis Ecclesiae is our source for the early recorded history, and much awe-inspiring legend as well. Then as now, legend worked more strongly than raw history to bring the pilgrims who sustained the Abbey's reputation and contributed to its upkeep.Arthur's graveIn 1184, a great fire at Glastonbury destroyed the monastic buildings. Reconstruction began almost immediately and the Lady Chapel, which includes the well, was consecrated in 1186. There is evidence that, in the twelfth century, the ruined nave was renovated enough for services while the great new church was being constructed. If pilgrim visits had fallen, the discovery of King Arthur and Queen Guinevere's grave in the cemetery in 1191 provided fresh impetus for visiting Glastonbury. According to two accounts by the chronicler, Giraldus Cambrensis, the abbot, Henry de Sully, commissioned a search, discovering at the depth of 16 feet (5 m) a massive hollowed oak trunk containing two skeletons. Above it, under the covering stone, according to Giraldus, was a leaden cross with the unmistakably specific inscription Hic jacet sepultus inclitus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia ("Here lies interred the famous King Arthur on the Isle of Avalon").RuinsBy Shakespeare's time, two generations later, Glastonbury was one of the "bare ruin'd choirs Where late the sweet birds sang."Library One of the earliest surviving manuscripts, now at the Bodleian Library, telling that Dunstan the abbot gave orders for the writing of this book.The Abbey library was described by John Leland, King Henry VIII's librarian who visited it, as containing unique copies of ancient histories of England and unique early Christian documents. It seems to have been affected by the fire of 1184, but still housed a remarkable collection until 1539 when it was dispersed at the Dissolution of the Monasteries. Some of the manuscripts from Glastonbury have been traced.Glastonbury ThornA specimen of Common Hawthorn found at Glastonbury, first mentioned in an early sixteenth century anonymous metrical Lyfe of Joseph of Arimathea, was unusual in that it flowered twice in a year, once as normal on "old wood" in spring, and once on "new wood" (the current season's matured new growth) in the winter. This flowering of the Glastonbury Thorn in mild weather just past midwinter was accounted miraculous.At the time of the adoption of the revised Gregorian calendar in Britain in 1752, the Gentleman's Magazine reported that curious visitors went to see whether the Glastonbury Thorn kept to the Julian calendar or the new one:Glastonbury.—A vast concourse of people attended the noted thorn on Christmas-day, new style; but, to their great disappointment, there was no appearance of its blowing, which made them watch it narrowly the 5th of January, the Christmas-day, old style, when it blowed as usual.Gentleman's Magazine January 1753 This tree has been widely propagated by grafting or cuttings, with the cultivar name 'Biflora' or 'Praecox'. An early antiquarian account by Mr Eyston was given in Hearse's History and Antiquities of Glastonbury, 1722 : "There is a person about Glastonbury who has a nursery of them, who, Mr. Paschal tells us he is informed, sells them for a crown a piece, or as he can get." The present "sacred thorn tree" at the Church of St John, Glastonbury was grown from a local cutting, like many others in the neighbourhood of Glastonbury.The original Glastonbury Thorn itself was cut down and burned as a relic of superstition by Cromwellian troops during the English Civil War.The custom of sending a budded branch of the Glastonbury thorn to the Queen at Christmas was initiated by James Montague, Bishop of Bath and Wells during James I's reign, who sent a branch to Queen Anne, King James I's consort. Glastonbury Thorn in the summer of 1984. Died in 1991, destroyed in 1992.A spray of Holy Thorn from the Glastonbury Thorn tree was sent to the Sovereign each Christmas by the Vicar and Mayor of Glastonbury. The tree in the grounds of the abbey was pronounced dead in June 1991, and cut down the following February. However, many cuttings were taken from it before its destruction. The pre-1991 thorn in the grounds of Glastonbury Abbey is said to be a cutting from the original plant which was planted in secret after the original was destroyed. Now only trees budded or grafted from the original exist, and these blossom twice a year, in May and at Christmas. The blossoms of the Christmas shoots are usually much smaller than the May ones and do not produce any haws. It is noteworthy also that plants grown from the haws do not retain the characteristics of the parent stem.Many have tried to grow the Glastonbury Holy Thorn, Crataegus monogyna var, biflora, (or Crataegus oxyacantha praecox) from seed and direct cuttings, but in the later part of the 20th century all attempts reverted to the normal hawthorn type, flowering only in spring.The large tree had been in the churchyard for eighty years. It was planted by Mr George Chislett, then head gardener of Glastonbury Abbey. He also learned how to graft Holy Thorn cuttings onto the root of blackthorn stock, and so preserve the “miraculous” Christmas blossoming characteristic. His son, Wilf, sent Holy Thorns all over the world, including to Washington, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.Luckily, trees survive from earlier grafts to perpetuate the Glastonbury legend, among them two other Holy Thorns in the grounds of St John’s. The blossom sent to the Queen now comes from one of these. At the end of term, the pupils of St John’s Infants School gather round the tree in St John’s parish churchyard on the High Street. They sing carols, including one specially written for the occasion, and the oldest pupil has the privilege of cutting the branch of the Glastonbury Thorn that is then taken to London and presented to Her Majesty The Queen.In 1965 The Queen erected a wooden cross at Glastonbury with the following inscription: “The cross. The symbol of our faith. The gift of Queen Elizabeth II marks a Christian sanctuary so ancient that only legend can record its origin.”

King Arthur's Grave

Glastonbury Abbey

Glastonbury Thorn

Folklore

Film: Knights of the Round Table

Knights of the Round Table is a 1954 historical film made by MGM. Directed by Richard Thorpe and produced by Pandro S. Berman, it was the first film in Cinemascope made by that studio. The screenplay was by Talbot Jennings, Jan Lustig and Noel Langley from the book Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Malory.The film was the second in an unofficial trilogy made by the same director and producer and starring Robert Taylor, coming between Ivanhoe (1952) and The Adventures of Quentin Durward (1955). All three were made at MGM's British Studios at Elstree, near London. The cast included Robert Taylor as Sir Lancelot, Ava Gardner as Queen Guinevere, Mel Ferrer as King Arthur, Stanley Baker as Modred, Anne Crawford as Morgan Le Fay, Felix Aylmer as Merlin and uncredited appearances by Laurence Harvey and Dana Wynter.PlotKing Arthur establishes the greatest reign England has ever seen through peace and prosperity, and along for the ride are his indispensable Knights of the Round Table, particularly Sir Lancelot. Then, Arthur finds himself a bride, the beautiful Guenivere. While she loves Arthur, she also loves Lancelot and though Lancelot repeatedly fights it, he loves her, too. Treachery is brewing as the evil Morgan le Fay and her knight Sir Modred work to trap them. So begins the decline and eventual fall of Arthur and Camelot. At the end, Arthur, and therefore England, fall in battle against Mordred and his men. Lancelot and Mordred then enter an epic fight, resulting in Mordred's death. Lancelot goes back to the hall of the round table where Parcifal sees the Holy Grail.http://www.imdb.com/video/screenplay/vi3781558297/

Knights of the Round Table

A Boys Own Adventure

Film: The Black Knight

The Black Knight is a 1954 film starring Alan Ladd as the title character and Peter Cushing and Patrick Troughton as two conspirators attempting to overthrow King ArthurPlot summaryJohn {Alan Ladd), a blacksmith and swordsmith, is tutored at Camelot. As a commoner, he can't hope to win the hand of Lady Linet (Patricia Medina), daughter of the Earl of Yeoniland (Harry Andrews), so he creates a secret alternate identity as the Black Knight. In this new role, he is now able to help King Arthur when Saracens and Cornish men -- disguised as Vikings -- plot to take over the country. However, his thoughts are not only on the protection of England when the good Lady Linet becomes threatened. When conspirators within Camelot plan to use the "Vikings" to overthrow King Arthur, the Black Knight is branded a traitor. CastAlan Ladd as JohnPatricia Medina as LinetAndré Morell as Sir OntzlakeHarry Andrews as Earl Of YeonilPeter Cushing as Sir PalamidesPatrick Troughton as King MarkAnthony Bushell as King ArthurBill Brandon as BernardRonald Adam as The AbbottJean Lodge as Queen Guinevere

Film:The Black Knight

Evil Comes to Camelot

Film:Prince Valiant

Prince Valiant is a 1954 adventure film in color and Cinemascope, based on the comic strip of the same name by Hal Foster. A young man seeks to join the Knights of the Round Table in order to restore his father to his own kingship, and uncovers a plot against King Arthur.

CastJames Mason as Sir BrackJanet Leigh as Princess AletaRobert Wagner as Prince ValiantDebra Paget as IleneSterling Hayden as Sir GawainVictor McLaglen as BoltarDonald Crisp as King AguarBrian Aherne as King ArthurBarry Jones as King LukeMary Philips as QueenHoward Wendell as MorganTodd Tom Conway as Sir Kay

Film: Prince Valiant

Prince Valiant 1

Film: Camelot

Camelot is the 1967 film version of the successful musical of the same name. Richard Harris appears as Arthur, Vanessa Redgrave as Guenevere and Franco Nero as Lancelot. The film was directed by Joshua Logan.

PlotThe main plot of the film and the stage version is shown in a long flashback. In the opening scene, King Arthur is preparing for a great battle against his friend, Sir Lancelot. While brooding over the circumstances that led him to this moment, he asks Merlyn for help. Merlyn appears to him and tells Arthur to think back. It is now that the main plot begins.Arthur has fled to the woods of ancient England to quell his nerves as he awaits his first meeting with Guinevere, his fiancée by an arranged marriage. After singing "I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight," he is startled when his solitude is interrupted by Guinevere and her entourage. Guinevere, whose introduction to the story features her opening song "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood" expresses nervous misgivings similar to those of Arthur, and has likewise escaped momentarily into the forest for a brief moment of solitude. Guinevere appeals to St. Genevieve in prayer, and unknowingly reveals her identity to Arthur, who is hiding in a tree. The king falls from a branch, startling Guinevere but keeping his own identity a secret. It is during this first meeting that Arthur introduces Guinevere to Camelot, singing the title song, "Camelot". After their identities are revealed to each other, they are married.As the plot develops, Arthur confides to Guinevere his idea for a "Round Table" that would seat all the noble knights of the realm, reflecting not only a crude type of democratic ideal, but also the political unification of England. As knights are gathered, word reaches all the way to France, where Sir Lancelot at his castle, Joyous Gard (represented by Alcázar of Segovia), hears word of the table. Inspired by Arthur’s ideas, Lancelot makes his way from France to Camelot, singing his introductory song "C’est Moi." Making his way to England, Lancelot quickly enters the highest echelons of Arthur's court due to his great combat prowess.During a tournament, Lancelot defeats three of the best of Arthur’s other knights, highlighting his athletic prowess and nobility—both of which are noticed by the Queen Guinevere. Ultimately Lancelot and Guinevere fall in love, leading to the famous love triangle involving Arthur, Guinevere, and Lancelot. As the personal drama unfolds, Arthur and "Jenny"—as Guinivere is called by her intimate familiars—sing together the world-weary song "What Do The Simple Folk Do?." Nothing seems able to stop the deepening love between Lancelot and Guinevere, however, and the film implies that their secret affair spans several years, especially in the classic song "If Ever I Would Leave You," sung by Lancelot to Guinevere.Arthur realizes that there is something going on between Lancelot and Guinevere, but out of love for them both, does nothing, instead banishing every knight who accuses them of adultery. Mordred, the illegitimate offspring of King Arthur's premarital tryst with the Queen Morgause, arrives at Camelot, bitter at Arthur's refusal to recognize him and determined to bring down the fellowship of the Round Table by stirring up trouble. He organizes the return of all the banished knights and convinces Arthur to stay out all night hunting in order to test the loyalty of Lancelot and Guinevere.Arthur does so unwillingly, and Mordred sees to it that Lancelot and Guinevere are caught during a final tryst. Lancelot escapes, but Guinevere is sentenced to die at the stake. Arthur, who has promoted the rule of law throughout the story, is now bound by his own law; he can make no special exceptions for the Queen and/or his own wife. In a climactic scene, Lancelot, who returns to save her, to the delight of Arthur, rescues Guinevere at the stake. In the film’s final scene, we return to the opening. Arthur is preparing to battle against Lancelot, at the insistence of his knights who want revenge, and England appears headed into the Dark Ages. He is visited one last time by Guinevere, who has now joined a convent, and Lancelot. Arthur forgives them both and bids them a heartfelt farewell. Despite the fact that he and Lancelot are still friends, Arthur is obligated to fight because of the other knights' lust for revenge.Prior to the battle, however, Arthur stumbles across a young boy named Tom, who wishes to become a Knight of the Round Table. Arthur is skeptical at first, but Tom espouses his commitment to Arthur's original ideal of "Not might makes right, but might for right." Arthur realizes that, although most of his plans have fallen through, the ideals of Camelot still live on in this simple boy. Arthur knights Tom and gives him his orders—to run behind the lines and survive the battle, so he can tell future generations about the legend of Camelot. Watching Tom leave, Arthur regains his hope for the future.

Film: Camelot

The Round Table

Camelot

Riot in Camelot

Musical:Camelot

Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederic Loewe (music). It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White tetralogy novel The Once and Future King.The original 1960 production, directed by Moss Hart, ran on Broadway for 873 performances, winning four Tony Awards and spawning several revivals, foreign productions and a 1967 film version. The original cast album was America's top-selling LP for 60 weeks. The musical has become associated with the Kennedy Administration.BackgroundIn 1959, Alan Lerner and Moss Hart decided to adapt T. H. White's Once and Future King as their next project. As discussed in Lerner's 1978 book, The Street Where I Live, Frederick Loewe, who had no interest in the project, agreed to write music, with the understanding that if things went badly, it would be his last score. After the tremendous success of My Fair Lady, expectations were high for a new Lerner and Loewe musical. However, the show's production met several obstacles. Lerner's wife left him during the writing process, causing him to seek medical attention and delaying the production. When Camelot began rehearsals, it still needed considerable work. However, the producers were able to secure a strong cast including Julie Andrews, Richard Burton and Roddy McDowall, as well as Robert Goulet in his first Broadway role. John Cullum also made his Broadway debut as Sir Dinadan; Bruce Yarnell was Sir Lionel. Cullum later replaced McDowall, and William Squire replaced Burton. Other replacements included Patricia Bredin and Kathryn Grayson for Andrews.The show's first tryout was in Toronto, at the O'Keefe Centre in 1960. The curtain came down at twenty minutes to one in the morning; Lerner later noted that "Only Tristan and Isolde equaled it as a bladder endurance contest." The morning papers, though kind, hinted that the show needed much work in order to succeed. Lerner was hospitalized with a bleeding ulcer and had to withdraw from preparations for a time. Hart then suffered a heart attack, and Lerner stepped in as temporary director for the rest of the out-of-town run at the behest of Kitty Carlisle Hart. Camelot then moved to Boston, nearly an hour and a half shorter, but still running very long. The production team tried to find another director, even phoning Jose Ferrer, who could not undertake the job. Lerner and Loewe disagreed on how to proceed with the show, as Loewe did not want to make any major changes without Hart's guidance. Lerner wrote: "God knows what would have happened had it not been for Richard Burton." Accepting cuts and changes, he radiated a "faith and geniality" and calmed the fears of the cast. Guenevere's song "Before I Gaze at You Again" was given to Andrews at the last minute before the first New York preview, which provoked her famous quote, "Of course darling, but do try to get it to me the night before." After the show opened on Broadway, Hart was released from the hospital, and he and Lerner began cutting the play even further. Two songs, "Then You May Take Me To the Fair" and "Fie on Goodness," were cut.The advance sale for the show was the largest in Broadway history. The New York critics' reviews of the original production were mixed. Fortunately for the show, Ed Sullivan approached Lerner and Loewe to create a segment for his TV show "Toast of the Town," celebrating the fifth anniversary of My Fair Lady. They decided to do very little from their previous hit and instead to perform four highlights from Camelot. The show stimulated ticket sales, and Camelot achieved an unprecedented advance sale of three and a half million dollars. It was also publicized, just after the assassination of President John F. Kennedy (a classmate of Lerner at Harvard), that the show's original cast recording had been favorite bedtime listening in the White House, and that Kennedy's favorite lines were in the final number (in which Arthur knights a young boy and tells him to pass on the story of Camelot to future generations):Don't let it be forgotThat once there was a spot, For one brief, shining moment. That was known as Camelot.Since then, Camelot has been associated with the Kennedy Administration.The obstacles encountered in producing Camelot were hard on the creative partnership of Lerner and Loewe, and the show turned out to be one of their last collaborations (although they did rejoin each other to adapt their 1958 award-winning movie "Gigi" to the stage in 1973; and collaborated again the following year on the movie musical "The Little Prince"). Camelot was also Hart's last Broadway show. He died of a heart attack in Palm Springs, California on December 20, 1961. ProductionsOn December 3, 1960, after two previews, the show opened on Broadway at the Majestic Theatre. The production was directed by Moss Hart and ran for 873 performances, winning four Tony Awards. The original cast album was America's top-selling LP for 60 weeks. A two-year U.S. tour followed the Broadway closing in January 1963, starring Kathryn Grayson and William Squire, who was succeeded by Louis Hayward. There was also a 1963-64 bus-and-truck tour starring Biff McGuire as Arthur, Jeannie Carson as Guenevere, and Sean Garrison as Lancelot. An Australian production opened in Adelaide in October 1963 produced by the J. C. Williamson company and ran for two years.The London production opened in August 1964 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane and featured Laurence Harvey as Arthur, Elizabeth Larner as Guenevere and Barry Kent as Lancelot. It played for 518 performances. The film version was made in 1967 starring Richard Harris and Vanessa Redgrave.Richard Burton reprised his role as Arthur in a revival that ran during the summer of 1980 at the New York State Theater at Lincoln Center. Christine Ebersole played Guenevere, and Richard Muenz was Lancelot.The show was revived on Broadway at the Winter Garden Theater in November 1981 and broadcast on HBO a year later, starring Richard Harris as Arthur, Meg Bussert as Guenevere, and Richard Muenz as Lancelot. Harris, who had starred in the film, and Muenz also took the show on tour nationwide. Another Broadway revival played in June 1993 for 56 performances at the George Gershwin Theatre, with Goulet now cast in the role of Arthur. Goulet reprised this role at Toronto's O'Keefe Centre in 1993.[8]A U.S. Regional tour, starring Michael York as Arthur, James Barbour as Lancelot, and Rachel York as Guenevere, kicked off on January 9, 2007 and continues in 2008. Alan Jay Lerner's son, Michael Lerner, contributed changes to the libretto, and Glenn Casale directs. The cast also includes Shannon Stoeke as Mordred and Eric Anderson as Merlyn. Notable cast replacements include Lou Diamond Phillips as Arthur, Matt Bogart as Lancelot, and Rachel De Benedet as Guenevere. From June 27-30, 2007, the tour played at Toronto's Hummingbird Centre, formerly the O'Keefe Centre, where the musical had premiered in 1960.From May 7 to May 10, 2008, the New York Philharmonic presented five semi-staged concerts of Camelot directed by Lonny Price and produced by Thomas Z. Shepard. The cast starred Gabriel Byrne as King Arthur, Marin Mazzie as Guenevere, and opera singer Nathan Gunn as Lancelot. It also featured Christopher Lloyd as Pellinore, Marc Kudisch as Lionel, Bobby Steggert as Mordred, Will Swenson as Sagramore, Christopher Seiber as Dinadan and Fran Drescher as Morgan le Fey. The May 8 performance was broadcast nationally on Live from Lincoln Center on PBS.Roles and original castKing Arthur - Richard BurtonQueen Guenevere - Julie AndrewsSir Lancelot - Robert GouletMerlyn - David HurstPellinore - Robert CooteMordred - Roddy McDowallSir Dinadan - John CullumMorgan Le Fey - M'el DowdLady Catherine - Virginia AllenNimue - Marjorie SmithSir Lionel - Bruce YarnellSir Ozanna - Michael KermoyanSir Gwilliam - Jack DabdoubSir Sagramore - James GannonLady Anne - Christina GillespieSquire Dap - Michael Clarke-Laurence Clarius - Richard Kuch Tom of Warwick - Robin StewartSynopsis Act IKing Arthur is nervous about his upcoming arranged marriage and is hiding in a tree. Merlyn the Magician, his wise tutor, calls Arthur down to warn the young king that he won't be around much longer. Merlyn, who lives backwards in time and remembers the future as well as the past, knows he will soon be separated from Arthur. Merlyn persuades Arthur to climb down and chides him for his unkingly behavior. Arthur then left alone, ponders both his subjects and his own feelings about the intended nuptials ("I Wonder What the King is Doing Tonight?"). Arthur hears someone coming and scampers up the tree again. Guenevere comes to the woods, uncertain about herself and the impending marriage ("Simple Joys of Maidenhood"). She stumbles into Arthur, who initially calls himself "Wart" (his childhood nickname) and then, hearing of her reluctance to marry, tells her of the joys of life in Camelot ("Camelot"). When his attendants come upon the two of them, he is revealed as the King. He tells Guenevere the story of how he pulled the sword from the stone and became king, and she, charmed by the story, agrees to marry him.The wizard Merlyn is fatefully drawn into the cave of the nymph Nimue for his eternal sleep ("Follow Me"). Arthur is inspired to establish the Round Table of chivalrous knights who fight for the right. When news of this reaches young Lancelot in France five years later, he is determined to come to Camelot and join Arthur's knights ("C'est Moi"). King Pellinore (a middle-aged old friend of Arthur's from his boyhood), also arrives and becomes a permanent guest of Arthur and Guenevere. A May Day celebration takes place on the castle grounds ("The Lusty Month of May"), where Arthur introduces his wife to Lancelot. Guenevere takes an instant dislike to the overly self-assured young man (as do also most of the rest of the court). Guenevere incites three knights of the Round Table: Sir Dinadan, Sir Sagramore and Sir Lionel, to engage him in a jousting match ("Then You May Take Me to the Fair"). Arthur (who has now become "best friends" with Lancelot), is dismayed by this; and at a loss to understand a woman's way ("How to Handle a Woman").In the jousting match Lancelot easily defeats all three knights. He appears to kill the third, Lionel, with his jousting lance. But the dismay of the crowd turns to awe and adoration, as he "miraculously" restores the dead Sir Lionel to life, (due to his faith and purity). This adoration of the crowd extends to Guenevere, who is forced to re-evaluate her feelings about the passionate young knight ("Before I Gaze at You Again"). She is now deeply in love with Lancelot. Lancelot falls in love with Guenevere in turn, and is torn by the conflict between this love and his devotion to Arthur. Arthur makes Lancelot a Knight of the Round Table. Arthur is painfully aware of the feelings between Lancelot and Guenevere, but remains silent to preserve the tranquility of Camelot. He soliloquizes to his sword Excalibur, that they will all rise to the challenges they will all face, together.Act IISeveral years later, Guenevere and Lancelot are still tormented by their unfulfilled love. He finally reveals his feelings to her ("If Ever I Would Leave You"). They both believe that Arthur is not aware of it. Nevertheless, she remains faithful to Arthur, and helps him in carrying out the affairs of State.Mordred, Arthur's illegitimate son, comes to Camelot to dishonor the King and tries to gain the throne for himself. Arthur puts him in the knights’ training program, not knowing that Mordred is there to destroy the Round Table ("Seven Deadly Virtues"). Arthur begins to feel the strain of ruling England, and both he and Guenevere wonder "What Do the Simple Folk Do?" without any such responsibilities. A month later, Mordred has done a great deal of damage to the court by causing discontentment among the knights ("Fie on Goodness!"). He schemes with his sorceress-aunt, Morgan le Fay, to trap Arthur in a forest one night ("The Persuasion"). During this night, Lancelot visits Guenevere in her chambers, where she reveals her love for him and kisses him ("I Loved You Once in Silence"). Mordred and some of the Knights of the Round Table interrupt, accuse Lancelot of treason, and try to take him prisoner. Lancelot fights them off and escapes; but Guenevere is arrested, tried, found guilty of treason by reason of her infidelity, and sentenced to be burned at the stake ("Guenevere"). At the execution Arthur watches from a distance; torn between upholding his law and doing his duty as a king, or sparing Guenevere (as Mordred insincerely urges him to do). At the last moment, Lancelot rescues her and takes her off with him to France. But in the process, Lancelot has been forced to kill some of the other knights, leaving some of the survivors vowing revenge.For the sake of his own honor and that of Camelot, Arthur must now wage war against Lancelot at his castle Joyous Garde in France. Mordred has taken up an army against Arthur, back in England. The war takes a terrible toll on Camelot, as half or more of the Knights of the Round Table are killed. Before the final battle, Arthur meets Lancelot and Guenevere, the latter of whom has joined a convent and become a nun. They offer to face up to justice in England, but Arthur will not see Guenevere burned or Lancelot beheaded. So he forgives them both, and they depart separately. That night in camp, Arthur meets a very young stowaway named Tom of Warwick, who has come to join the Round Table. Arthur knights him (before the battle with Excalibur), and sends him back to England to grow up there, and pass on to future generations the ideals of chivalry and Camelot ("Camelot" reprise).Musical numbersAct I "Overture" and "The March [Parade]" "I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight" (Arthur) "The Simple Joys of Maidenhood" (Guenevere) "Camelot" (Arthur) "Camelot" (reprise) (Arthur and Guenevere) "Follow Me" (Nimue) "C'est Moi" (Lancelot) "The Lusty Month of May" (Guenevere and Company) "Then You May Take Me To the Fair" (Guenevere, Sir Lionel, Sir Sagramore, and Sir Dinadan) "How To Handle a Woman" (Arthur) "The Jousts" (Arthur, Guenevere and Ensemble "Before I Gaze at You Again" (Guenevere)Act II "If Ever I Would Leave You" (Lancelot) "The Seven Deadly Virtues" (Mordred) "What Do the Simple Folk Do?" (Arthur and Guenevere) "Fie on Goodness!" (Mordred and The Knights) "I Loved You Once In Silence" (Guenevere) "Guenevere" (Company) "Camelot" (reprise) (King Arthur) Critical assessmentsThe New York critics' reviews of the original production were mixed. A 1993 New York Times review commented that the musical "has grown in stature over the years, primarily because of its superb score.... [which] combined a lyrical simplicity with a lush romanticism, beautifully captured in numbers like 'I Loved You Once in Silence' and 'If Ever I Would Leave You.' These ballads sung by Guenevere and Lancelot are among the most memorable in the Lerner-Loewe catalogue. King Arthur supplies the wit, with songs like 'I Wonder What the King Is Doing Tonight.'" A 2003 review noted, "this musically rich, legend-based classic evokes enough swashbuckling spectacle to keep one smiling. And for lovers of dime-store romance, Camelot has it all – a beautiful English princess swept off her feet by a shy, but passionate bachelor king; an ardent French knight, torn between devotion to his liege and an uncontrollable hunger, reciprocated, to be sure, for the king's tempestuous wife.... Camelot features a score rich in English country-tune charm by Mr. Lerner. [sic: Loewe wrote the music] Its lyrics, by Mr. Loewe [sic: Lerner wrote the lyrics], never fail to dazzle with their virtuosity and wit." However, "Jay Lerner's murky book... has helped sink many a revival of the musical.... It's a good story, but Lerner's book is talky and dense, filled with pontificating soliloquies that would have been more powerfully contained in song. Moreover, while the entire show rushes towards a bloody climax... when it finally arrives, it is merely sketched upon in one song, "Guinevere." ...The score, though, is pure magic"Awards and nominations1961 Tony AwardsBest Actor in a Musical - Richard Burton (winner)Best Scenic Design (Musical) - Oliver Smith (winner)Best Costume Design (Musical) - Adrian, Tony Duquette (winner)Best Conductor and Musical Director - Franz Allers (winner) Best Actress in a Musical - Julie Andrews (nominee) 1961 Theatre World AwardRobert Goulet (winner)

Camelot: Musical

Fighting and Singing

Film: Gawaine and the Green Knight

Gawaine and the Green KnightGawain and the Green Knight is a 1973 film directed by Stephen Weeks, and starring Murray Head as Gawain and Nigel Green in his final theatrical film as the Green Knight. The story is based on the medieval English tale Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Weeks remade the film in 1984 as Sword of the Valiant with Miles O'Keefe and Sean Connery as Gawain and the Green Knight, respectively.

The film is to be released on DVD in March 2008.PlotThe mysterious Green Knight appears before King Arthur's court in the New Year and demands the head of Sir Gawain as the prize in a bizarre game. Given a year's grace, Gawain sets off in search of the Knight for a rematchDirected by Stephen WeeksProduced by Carlo PontiWritten by Philip M. Breen & Stephen WeeksStarring Murray HeadNigel GreenRobert HardyMusic by Ron GoodwinCinematography Ian WilsonEditing by John ShirleyDistributed by United Artists Release date(s) 1973Running time 93 min.Language English

Film: Gawaine and the Green Knight

Losing Ones Head

Film: Arthur of the Britons

Arthur of the Britons was a short-lived but fondly remembered British television show about the "historical" King Arthur. Produced by the HTV regional franchise, it consisted of two series, released between 1972 and 1973. It was broadcast on several occasions on various local ITV stations during the 1970s and 1980s.Set in the Dark Ages a century after the Roman withdrawal from Britain, Arthur is not a great king with an elaborate court; instead, he is the chieftain of a small Celtic tribe and works to unite the other tribes against the Saxon invaders. Helping him is Llud, his adoptive father; Kai, a Saxon orphan reared as Arthur's brother; Arthur's cousin, Mark of Cornwall; the Jute woman Rowena; and the Jute chief Yorath. Cerdig, chieftain of the Saxons, is Arthur's main nemesis.In 1975, it was edited into a 90 minute direct-to-video movie, King Arthur, the Young Warlord.

Film: Arthur of the Britons

The Young Warlord

Film: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Monty Python and the Holy Grail is a 1975 film written and performed by the comedy group Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin), and directed by Gilliam and Jones. It was conceived during a gap between the third and fourth seasons of their popular BBC television series Monty Python's Flying Circus.In contrast to the group's first film, And Now for Something Completely Different, a compilation of sketches from the television series, Holy Grail was composed of original material, therefore considered the first "proper" film according to the group and mainstream audiences. It generally spoofs the legends of King Arthur's quest to find the Holy Grail.The film was a success on its initial run and remains popular to this day. Idle used the film as the inspiration for the 2005 Tony Award-winning musical Spamalot due to its use of songs such as Knights of the Round Table and Brave Sir Robin.

PlotKing Arthur is recruiting his Knights of the Round Table throughout England. He is frustrated at every turn by such obstacles as anarcho-syndicalist peasants, a Black Knight who refuses to give up despite losing both his arms and legs, and guards who are more concerned with the flight patterns of swallows than their lord and master. Finally he meets up with Sir Bedevere the Wise (Jones), Sir Lancelot the Brave (Cleese), Sir Galahad the Pure (also called "the Chaste") (Palin), Sir Robin the Not-Quite-So-Brave-As-Sir-Lancelot (Idle), "and the aptly-named Sir Not-Appearing-in-this-Film." They declare themselves the Knights of the Round Table. When 'riding' to Camelot, they are given a quest by God (represented by an animated photograph of legendary cricket figure W. G. Grace) to find the Holy Grail.They encounter a castle with a Frenchman who randomly taunts them with names like 'Daffy English knnnnnniggits' and odd insults such as, "I fart in your general direction!" and "Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries!", together with some mangled Franglais, notably "Fetchez la vache!" (Fetch the cow). The Knights then retreat, weathering a barrage of livestock and executing a poorly thought-out plan to sneak into the castle while concealed within a crudely built giant wooden rabbit (a Trojan Rabbit) which the French throw back at the knights. Arthur decides that he and his knights should search for the Grail individually. After they split up, Sir Robin travels through a forest with his favourite minstrels, and encounters a Three-Headed Giant, Galahad follows a Grail-shaped light to the perils of Castle Anthrax (the girls of which are very interested in being spanked and having oral sex with him), Sir Lancelot massacres a wedding at Swamp Castle, and Arthur and Bedevere encounter the dreaded Knights who say Ni, who demand a shrubbery as tribute. They each overcome or avoid their individual perils in a variety of ways, then reunite to face a bleak and terrible winter, the happenings of which are told in the form of a Gilliam animation. Next they venture further to a pyromaniacal enchanter named Tim, who leads them to a cave guarded by a killer rabbit.After killing the vicious Rabbit of Caerbannog with the Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch, the knights face the Legendary Black Beast of Aaaaarrrrrrggghhh in another animated scene, escaping this peril when the animator suffers a fatal heart attack. Their final task is to cross the Bridge of Death, which is guarded by "the old man from scene 24." Only Arthur, Bedevere, and Lancelot survive the confrontation, but Lancelot mysteriously disappears before the others can catch up to him on the other side. Arthur and Bedevere reach the gates of Castle Aaargh, only to find themselves facing the French taunter once more; the whole quest has in fact been a wild goose chase. As Arthur leads a great army in a charge against the castle, a group of present-day police officers suddenly arrive on the scene, disrupting the film's climax. They have been investigating the murder of a "famous historian," who was earlier cut down by an unidentified knight while he was presenting a television program on a topic from the film's supposed era. Lancelot has already been taken into custody, and Arthur and Bedevere are promptly arrested as well. The film ends abruptly when one of the policemen covers the camera lens with his hand, knocking the film loose.Breaking the fourth wallOne of the running gags in the film is the frequent breaking of the fourth wall, the separation between the action on screen and the production offscreen is blurred; for example, the aforementioned "old man from scene 24" and the death of the animator.Others include:The mood-setting opening credits initially play out in a serious manner before they are 'hijacked' three times by trouble-making crewmembers (who sneak in mentions of Sweden and moose, e.g. "A møøse once bit my sister!" [sic]) The text at one point claims that they have been completed at the very last minute and at great expense. The last few screens are then shown against a backdrop of garish, blinking fluorescent colors, with repeated mentions of llamas. The narrator (played by Michael Palin) is heard being killed after taking too long to introduce scene 24. "The aptly named Sir Not-Appearing-In-This-Film" (Michael Palin's son, William, then an infant, dressed up in chain mail attire). When the knights arrive at an obviously fake Camelot and chorus its name in awe, one of their servants is heard to remark 'It's only a model' and is promptly sushed. In one Castle Anthrax scene, Dingo (played by Carol Cleveland, Python's main female supporting player) faces the camera and inquires about the quality of the scene to that point, asking if it should have been cut. Other characters from scenes both past and future respond and, after being drawn out, command her to "GET ON WITH IT!" (ironically, this moment was actually removed from the film on initial release, but was reinstated for TV broadcasts and the video release). Prince Herbert (Jones) frequently attempts to begin a musical number, but his father (Palin) demands that he stop, even saying "You're not going into a song while I'm here!" The film ends very abruptly, with one of the police officers putting his hand over the lens, the film jumping its sprockets, and the screen suddenly going black. While throwing the Holy Hand Grenade Arthur says 5 instead of 3 and does it again during the bridge of death scene

BackgroundIn 1974, between production on the third and fourth TV series (the latter of which Cleese declined to take part in for a variety of reasons), the group decided that the time was now right to embark on their first "proper" feature film, containing entirely new material. Monty Python and the Holy Grail was based on Arthurian Legend and was directed by both Terrys: Jones and Gilliam. The latter also contributed linking animations (and put together the opening credits). Along with the rest of the Pythons, Jones and Gilliam performed several roles in the film, but it was Chapman who took the lead as King Arthur. Holy Grail was filmed on location, throughout several picturesque rural areas of Scotland, with a tiny budget of nearly £150,000 (approx. $350.000 in 1974); the money was raised in part with investments from rock groups, such as Pink Floyd, Jethro Tull, and Led Zeppelin, and UK music industry entrepreneur Tony Stratton-Smith (founder/owner of the Charisma Records label, for which the Pythons recorded their song albums).The weather was poor and the 'chain mail' (actually woolen garments painted silver) just soaked up the rain; the budget only allowed for low-quality hotels, which could not provide sufficient hot water for the team to bathe every evening; Gilliam and Jones argued with each other and with the other Pythons. Terry Gilliam later said in an interview that "everything that could go wrong did go wrong." Holy Grail is the only time any of them can remember the usually amiable Palin losing his temper. This occurred when Jones and Gilliam insisted on repeatedly reshooting a scene in which Palin played a character called "the mud eater." Palin was upset when he realized that after numerous takes of being covered in mud and eating mud that the mud-eating wouldn't actually be visible on-screen.ProductionThe film was mostly shot on location in Scotland, particularly around Doune Castle, Glen Coe, and the privately owned Castle Stalker. The many castles seen throughout the film were either Doune Castle shot from different angles or cardboard models held up against the horizon (this is referred to in Patsy's dismissive line, "It's only a model" - another example of fourth wall breakage). There are several exceptions to this: the very first exterior shot of a castle at the beginning of the film is Kidwelly Castle in South Wales and the single exterior shot of the Swamp King castle during "Tale of Sir Lancelot" is Bodiam Castle in Kent — all subsequent shots of the exterior and interior of those scenes were filmed at Doune Castle. King Arthur was the only character whose chain mail armour was authentic. The "armour" worn by his various knights was silver-painted wool, which absorbed moisture in the cold and wet conditions.The film was co-directed by Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, the first major project for both and the first project where any members of the Pythons were behind the camera. This proved to be troublesome on the set as Jones and Gilliam had different directing styles and it often wasn't clear who was in charge. The other Pythons evidently preferred Jones, who as an acting member of the group was focused more on performance, as opposed to Gilliam, whose visual sense they admired but who they sometimes thought was too fussy: on the DVD audio commentary, Cleese expresses irritation at a scene set in Castle Anthrax, where he says the focus was on technical aspects rather than comedy. The two later Python feature films, Life of Brian and The Meaning of Life, both have Jones as the sole director.Chapman as King Arthur in Holy GrailOriginally the knight characters were going to ride real horses, but after it became clear that the film's minuscule budget precluded the use of real horses the Pythons decided that their characters would mime horse-riding while their porters trotted behind them banging coconut shells together. The joke was derived from the old-fashioned sound effect used by radio shows to convey the sound of hooves clattering. This was later referred to in the German release of the film, which translated the title as "Die Ritter der Kokosnuss" ("The Knights of the Coconut").The use of coconuts leads to an extended, tangential discussion on how coconuts could have found their way to the British Isles. The possibility of swallows carrying them, absurd as it seems, reappears in a key moment late in the film and helps Arthur advance his quest.As an extension of the group's penchant for never abiding to a generic formula, the 2001 DVD release of the film commences with the British Board of Film Censors' certification for Dentist on the Job, a film "Passed as more suitable for Exhibition to Adult Audiences", followed by its grainy black-and-white opening titles and nearly two minutes of the film itself. During the opening scene of Dentist on the Job, the projectionist (played by Terry Jones) realises it is the wrong film and puts the correct one on. (Dentist on the Job was a 1961 comedy starring Bob Monkhouse. Also, Dentist on the Job's alternate title is Get On With It, a phrase that appears multiple times throughout Holy Grail).

Film: Monty Python and the Holy Grail

Satirical comedy

Film: Excalibur

Excalibur is a 1981 fantasy film which retells the legend of King Arthur. It grossed $34,967,437 USD, and was the 18th most successful film of that year.The film begins with Uther Pendragon, in battle against the Duke of Cornwall, reminding Merlin of his promise of the "Sword of Power", Excalibur to denote his kingship. Merlin retrieves the sword from the Lady of the Lake and gives it to Uther with the intention of uniting the land as one. After Uther yields portions of "lands from here to the sea" Cornwall yields to Uther and promises to enforce the king's will. Cornwall invites Uther to celebrate at his castle, where Uther meets and is enchanted by Cornwall's wife Igrayne. Cornwall is enraged and the truce is broken. The lustful Uther later lays siege to the Duke's castle.Merlin, furious at Uther's recklessness, nevertheless agrees to use his magic to help Uther seduce Igrayne, on the condition that Uther relinquishes to Merlin whatever results from his lust. Merlin summons the dragon who lies beneath the land and transforms Uther into the image of Cornwall, who rides into the castle across the sky on the dragon's breath just as Cornwall leaves to attack Uther's camp. Meanwhile, the Duke of Cornwall is killed during his assult and sensing her father's death, awakes Igrayne's young daughter, Morgana. Believing her husband to return home, Igrayne makes love to an aggressive Uther while a devastated Morgana sees past Uther's diguise.Igrayne later gives birth to a son, Arthur. Upon seeing his child, Uther speaks of creating peace and staying with Igrayne. Much to Igrayne's despair, Merlin later arrives and reminds Uther of the oath he took, and takes baby Arthur. Uther pursues Merlin and is later ambushed by the remaining loyal Cornwall knights who were also after Excalibur. He is mortally wounded in the forest but not before thrusting the sword into a large nearby stone. Witnessing this, Merlin exclaims that "he who draws the sword from the stone, he shall be king".Years later, Sir Ector and his sons Kay and Arthur attend a jousting tournament to win a chance to draw Excalibur from the stone. The best knights in the land gather to compete and Leondegrance is the victor but fails to pull the sword from its stone prison. Arthur, now Kay's squire, forgets Kay's sword in a tent and returns only to discover that it has been stolen. While pursuing the thief, Arthur stumbles by the stone in which the Excalibur is embedded. By sheer fate and destiny, the sword calls to him and Arthur draws it from the stone. Once news arrive of the sword's release, the tournament crowd gather around him. Sir Ector commands Arthur to put it back and after a failed attempt by a skeptical Uryens, Arthur easily draws the sword from the stone once more. Merlin then appears, revealing to Arthur that he is the son of Uther and Igrayne, hence by birthright, he is the rightful king of the land.Not all accept Arthur's kingship. As the knights argue, a confused Arthur flees into the forest pursuing Merlin. He later explains Arthur's destiny, telling the boy that he and the land are one. Overwhelmed, Arthur slips off into sleep. The next morning, Merlin tells him that his enemies are laying siege to the castle of one of Arthur's main supporters, Leondegrance. Rallying the other knights loyal to him, Arthur leads a counter-assault and repels the attackers. The battle ends when Arthur asks for Sir Uryens' faith in Arthur's newfound kingship. Uryens is insulted at swearing faith to a squire. Arthur realizing what he says is true, gives Excalibur to him to proclaim Arthur a knight. Tempted to take the sword for himself, Uryens hesitates, but after seeing Arthur's humility and courage in battle, grants his request. Afterwards, Arthur later meets Leondegrance's daughter Guenevere, who narrowly avoids a kiss from Arthur, while she helps mend his wounds,Later, Arthur and his knights encounter a brilliant and self-proclaimed undefeated knight named Lancelot. In search of a king worthy of his sword, Lancelot will allow none to pass a bridge until he is defeated in single combat. After besting all of Arthur's knights, Lancelot engages Arthur himself in a joust. An enraged Arthur refuses to accept Lancelot besting him and challenges Lancelot in a duel to the death. The two combatants' fight brings them near a nearby lake. Lancelot is surprisingly fast and agile striking at will on the furious and unbalanced Arthur. Lying on the rocks in defeat, Arthur summons Excalibur's power. The "Sword of Power" hums with magic and cuts through Lancelot's spear, piercing his armour and knocking him unconscious, but breaking the sword in half in the process. A devastated and shameful Arthur confesses to Merlin that in his rage he abused the sword's power to serve his own vanity. Arthur throws what is left of the sword into the nearby body of water but, upon his words of contrition, the Lady of the Lake shows herself and offers a restored Excalibur to the king. Realizing his error, Arthur quietly vows never to abuse the sword's power again. Lancelot awakens and realizing that he has finally been bested, swears fealty to Arthur.After a series of battles, Arthur and his knights unify the land. He decides to create a Round Table and builds his castle, Camelot. Arthur ultimately marries Guenevere but Lancelot, who escorts her to the wedding, falls deeply in love with her. Arthur's half-sister, Morgana, a budding sorceress, becomes apprenticed to Merlin in hopes of learning the Charm of Making from him. Time passes and Lancelot, the greatest of the knights, is often inexplicably absent from the Round Table, seeking refuge deep in the forest in order to brood. One day while sleeping in the forest, Lancelot encounters a peasant boy named Percival, who aspires to become a knight and impresses Lancelot with his resiliency. Lancelot guides him back to Camelot where Percival later becomes his squire.Though the king's champion, Lancelot's forbidden love for Guenevere keeps him away from Camelot. One evening, Sir Gawain, under the corruption of Morgana, openly accuses both knight and queen of adultery at the Round Table. Since he is king, Arthur decrees that he must be the judge and that Lancelot must defend Guenevere's honor in a duel against Gawain. In a nightmare duel with himself, Lancelot pierces himself with his own sword in order to purge himself of his love for Guenevere. As the crowd gather for the duel, Lancelot is nowhere to be seen. A disappointed Arthur looks upon all of his knights and not one volunteers to challenge Gawain, except the squire, Percival. In duress and to the shock of the crowd, Arthur hastily knights Percival. Lancelot finally arrives and despite his injuries, manages to defeat Gawain and have him withdraw his accusation. The duel is too much for Lancelot and he collapses, close to death. Arthur implores Merlin to bring him back, whatever the cost and so Merlin does, placing Guenevere's hand on Lancelot's heart, giving him will to live.Ultimately, Guenevere realizes her love for Lancelot, and they ride out into the forest where the two consummate their love. A heartbroken Arthur, realizing the two people he loves most in the world have betrayed him, finds Guenevere and Lancelot asleep together in the forest. Meanwhile, Merlin guides Morgana, who is showing signs of hostility towards her half-brother Arthur, to his secret lair intending on luring her into a trap. In the forest, Arthur thrusts Excalibur between the sleeping couple and because of his magical link with the Dragon and Earth, Merlin is instantly impaled by the magical sword also. Seeing a weakened Merlin, Morgana seizes the opportunity to trap him in crystal with the Charm of Making. Morgana (like Uther when he deceived Igrayne) then takes the form of Guenevere and seduces Arthur into making love to her. She later bears a son named Mordred and protects him with magic so that no man-made weapon can kill him.On awakening to the sight of Excalibur, Lancelot cries "the king without a sword, the land without a king" and flees in shame as Guenevere lies there weeping. Time passes and the land is stricken with famine and sickness, and a broken Arthur sends his knights on a quest for the Holy Grail believing the land will prosper if it is found. More years pass and many knights die on the quest, while some are the walking dead; bewitched by Morgana to serve her and her son.Stopping by a lake for water, Percival witnesses Mordred viciously murdering Uryens. With his dying breath, Uryens tells Percival that he is the last of the quest knights and that he must continue his search. Tricked by Mordred and Morgana, Percival manages to escape, but not before he dreams of obtaining the grail. Wandering aimlessly, Percival encounters a fat, bearded, and bitter Lancelot preaching to his followers of the failures of the kingdom. Recognizing Lancelot, Percival tries to tell him that he is still needed by Arthur, but with the help of his followers, Lancelot pushes Percival into a river. Rising out of the river, Percival, having lost his armor, has a vision of the Grail and a mysterious figure who asks "who am I?" and "what is my secret?" Percival realizes that the figure is King Arthur, and his secret is that he and the land are one. Answering the riddle, he attains the Grail. Arthur drinks from it and is revitalized.Realizing that now is his time to truly be king, Arthur and his few remaining knights ride to war against Mordred and Morgana. The barren land blooms with life as they pass and is reborn with its King. Learning that Guenevere has joined a nunnery, Arthur pays a visit to her convent, where they reconcile. She reveals Excalibur to him, having kept it safe since the day she fled. Most of the land's nobles have rallied to Mordred and Morgana. In despair, Arthur calls to Merlin and strikes a monolith in frustration, unknowingly awakening the wizard from his enchanted slumber. Though still imprisoned in crystal, Merlin appears to Morgana in dream and tricks her into calling the dragon and uttering the Charm of Making, creating a thick fog of the dragon's breath. Her magically-endowed youth dissolves, she grows old and grotesque, much to the dismay of her son Mordred, who strangles her in disgust.With the help of Merlin, Arthur and his knights survive using Morgana's mist to their advantage to hide their small numbers, but are soon overwhelmed. Out of the fog arrives Lancelot, who joins the fray and turns the tide of the battle. After disposing of the remaining enemies, Lancelot falls to the ground from the old wound that has never healed. Arthur and Lancelot reconcile, and Lancelot dies with Arthur's acknowledgment that he was the Round Table's greatest knight. A distraught Arthur turns to find Mordred ready to pierce his father with his spear. Percival offers to fight, but Arthur realizes Mordred was his sin and stands to face his son. Mordred lunges forward with his weapon and pierces Arthur, but the determined king pulls the spear and his son, closer to him and stabs Mordred with the enchanted blade of Excalibur, killing him.Knowing his time has come, Arthur commands Percival to throw Excalibur in a pool of calm water, where it is caught by the glimmering scale-clad hand of the Lady of the Lake. When Percival returns, he sees Arthur's body on a ship sailing away. The king is attended by four formally posed ladies clad in white, sailing into the setting sun toward the Isle of Avalon.

CastNigel Terry as King ArthurHelen Mirren as Morgana Le FayNicol Williamson as MerlinNicholas Clay as LancelotCherie Lunghi as GuenevereLiam Neeson as GawainPatrick Stewart as King LeondegranceClive Swift as Sir EctorGabriel Byrne as Uther PendragonRobert Addie as MordredPaul Geoffrey as PercevalEven though he was 35 years old, Nigel Terry plays King Arthur from his teenage years to his ending as an aged monarch.Several members of the Boorman family also appeared in the picture. Igrayne (Arthur's mother), the Lady of the Lake, Mordred as a boy, and the infant Arthur were all played by Boorman's children. Because of the number of Boormans involved with the film, it is sometimes called "The Boorman Family Project."ProductionJohn Boorman originally intended to film an adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien 's The Lord of the Rings and much of the imagery and set designs seen in Excalibur were created with that intention. He was, however, unable to secure the rights to the book.CastingJohn Boorman cast Nicol Williamson and Helen Mirren opposite each other as Merlin and Morgana, knowing that the two were at the time on less than friendly terms, due to personal issues that arose during a production of Macbeth seven years earlier. Boorman felt that the tension on set would come through in the actors' performances. This is stated by John Boorman himself in the audio commentary track of the Excalibur DVD.FilmingExcalibur was filmed in Irish locations in Wicklow, Tipperary, and County Kerry. The early critical battle scene around a castle, in which Arthur is made a knight by Uryens, while kneeling in a moat, was filmed in Cahir Castle, in Cahir County Tipperary, Ireland. It is a genuine Norman castle, one of the best preserved anywhere and the moat is the River Suir which flows around the castle.The original cut of the film was three hours long. Following a reduction in length, several shots were lost, among them a scene of Lancelot rescuing Guinevere from a forest bandit.According to director John Boorman, the love scene between Lancelot and Guinevere in the forest was filmed on a very cold night, but Nicholas Clay and Cherie Lunghi did the scene in the nude anyway.CostumesThe costumes were designed by Bob Ringwood. The armour was designed by Terry English, who also crafted the armor for the film Aliens. It is notable that the armor worn during the period before Arthur and the earlier part of his reign (the "Dark Ages") is dark and dull, primarily greyish tones of varying styles, reflecting the turmoil and strife of a divided land. Soon after Lancelot arrives and during the height of Arthur's reign, the Round Table knights adopt armor similar Lancelot's style of glossy, chrome-like platemail with the same type of helmet, representing a strong, united kingdom. When the kingdom decays and strife returns with the rebellion of Mordred, knights in the varied, dark armor return, as the ones who fight for Morgana and her son against Arthur. The final battle between Arthur and Mordred's forces highlights the contrast between the silver and dark armour. Although it may simply be a direct indicative of the conditions they faced, it is also of note that the knights on the quest for the grail also went from glittering armor to a dull, dirt-caked set over the years that they quested.AdaptationThe screenplay was written by Rospo Pallenberg with assistance from John Boorman.The film is primarily an adaptation of Malory's Morte d'Arthur (1485). In order to recast the Arthurian legends as an allegory of the cycle of birth, life and decay, the text was stripped of decorative or insignificant details, as well as of Malory's Christian piety. The resulting film is reminiscent of mythographic works such as Sir James Frazer's The Golden Bough and Jessie Weston's From Ritual to Romance; Arthur is presented as the "Wounded King" whose realm becomes a wasteland to be reborn thanks to the Grail, and may be compared to the Fisher (or Sinner) King, whose land also became a wasteland, and was also healed by Perceval. Notably, the Grail is not the Christian "Holy Grail"; rather, it may be inspired by magic cauldrons in Celtic pagan myths. "The film has to do with mythical truth, not historical truth," Boorman remarked to a journalist during filming.In keeping with this approach, the film is intentionally ahistorical. For example, the opening titles state the setting to be the Dark Ages, even though the knights wear full plate armor, a technology of the 15th century. Knights, knighthood and the code of chivalry also did not exist during the period. Furthermore, Britain is never mentioned by name, only as "the land".In addition to Malory, the writers incorporated elements from other Arthurian stories, sometimes altering them. For example, the sword between the sleeping lovers' bodies comes from the tales of Tristan and Iseult; the knight who returns Excalibur to the water is changed from Bedivere to Perceval; and Morgause and Morgan Le Fay are merged. The sword Excalibur and the Sword in the Stone are presented as the same thing; in some versions of the legends they are separate. In the Morte d'Arthur, Sir Galahad, the illegitimate son of Lancelot and Elaine of Carbonek, is actually the Knight who is worthy of the Holy Grail. Boorman follows the earlier version of the tale as told by Chretien de Troyes, making Percival the grail winner.Some new elements were added, such as Uther wielding Excalibur before Arthur (repeated in Merlin), Merlin's 'Charm of Making' (written in Old Irish), and the concept of the world as "the dragon".

QuotationsUther and Cornwall meet with Merlin instructing Uther:Merlin to Uther: Show the sword! Merlin to Cornwall (and all those around): Behold! The Sword of Power! Excalibur!.....Forged when the world was young, and bird and beast and flower were one with man, and death was but a dream!Merlin states the film's central theme, reflecting an ancient Celtic belief about kingship:"You will be the land, And the land will be you. If you fail, the land will perish; As you thrive, the land will blossom."Later, he states the allegory of the Dragon:MERLIN: The dragon! A beast of such power that if you were to see it whole and all complete in a single glance, it would burn you to cinders.ARTHUR: Where is it?MERLIN: It is everywhere; it is everything. Its scales glisten in the bark of trees, its roar is heard in the wind, and its forked tongue strikes like — like — [Lightning strikes] Whoa! Like lightning! Yes, that's it!Later, he touches on the conflict between Christianity and polytheism:"The One God comes to drive out the many gods. The spirits of wood and stream grow silent. But that's the way of things. It's time for men and their ways." Pallenberg and Boorman's screenplay touches on the heroic themes with directness. As Arthur declares:"Any man who would be a knight and follow a King, follow me!" As he prepares for his final battle, Arthur dreams of the future of his legacy:"Now, once more, I must ride with my knights to defend what was and the dream of what could be." http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082348/http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082348/http://americancinemapapers.homestead.com/files/EXCALIBUR.htm

Film: Excalibur

Sword of Kingship

Film: Sword of the Valiant

Sword of the Valiant: The Legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a 1984 film starring Miles O'Keeffe, Cyrielle Claire, Leigh Lawson, and Sean Connery. The film is based on the poem Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, written in the late 14th century, but the narrative differs substantially.

PlotThe film begins with a feast in a great hall during winter. A knight on horseback storms through the door and the crowd falls silent as the knight, all in green and carrying a large axe, walks up to the throne. He asks if any man has enough courage to challenge him to a game and finally a young squire named Gawain accepts. The knight tells Gawain that he has one chance to behead him, but then the knight gets to return the favor. Gawain beheads the knight but then the knight's torso walks up and grabs the head and puts it back on his body. The crowd is stunned and the knight tells Gawain to kneel so he can make his blow. The king stops the knight, saying Gawain is only a boy. The knight agrees and says he will return in one year, unless Gawain solves three riddles.Gawain is then knighted by King Arthur and is given King Arthur's blessing and ceremonial armour to accomplish a seemingly chivalrous task. He heads out with a loyal servant and after riding for some time to search for answers to the three riddles given by the Green Knight, his servant suggests heading east. When asked, he jokes that the wind blows in that direction.Sir Gawain then meets another knight, in black armor, claiming to defend a lost and hidden city. After a short duel (in which Sir Gawains' thin armor is revealed by the servant to him) the knight in black armor concedes to the challenger and shows the whereabouts of a secret city. However, upon arriving there, the knight in black armor, close to death, lies about his wounds and calls the victorious Sir Gawain a murderer, setting the city and her guards upon him. He manages to escape the guards, thanks to the aid of a beautiful lady in the castle, who gives him a ring with which to escape.Upon escaping he is told by the Green Knight that the game he has accepted as a challenge has rules, rules of which have been broken.Later, Gawain returns to the secret city, only to find it deserted, with the denizens old and covered in cob webs, frozen in time. However he is able to revive and bring back the youth of the lady that helped him escape by giving her the magic ring he used to escape the city (that previously broke the rules). Unfortunately, in his hours of peace and love, the lady is kidnapped by a lustful prince.Gawain is convinced that saving her is his only option and rediscovers his friend and servant along with a band of men willing to assist. Whilst the rescue mission is under way, a rival Baron of the captors arrives and threatens war if certain demands are not met. The rival Baron has accepted the beautiful lady as a tribute to avert war. The rescue mission fails, with Sir Gawain under the false impression that the beautiful lady has been killed in a fire thanks to the acts of the lustful prince.Later Gawain asks his comrades to disband, including the men that followed him to raid the castle in an attempt to save the lady. He then discovers to his joy that the lady has in fact been saved by the rival Baron who accepted her as tribute and even gave her her freedom at no cost. Eternally grateful, Sir Gawain once more gathers his men and his servant and encounters the forces of the prince who kidnapped the lady. Despite being outnumbered and lacking archers, Sir Gawain and his men triumph over the forces of the lustful prince. Whilst in single combat, Sir Gawain has the upper hand when the prince calls for assistance from an archer nearby. The archer is about to fire into Gawain's back when the seneschal of the Prince's father orders the archer to stop, preferring to see his son die in honorable combat then let him cheat. The Seneschal then orders his men to withdraw, leaving Gawain to take the field.Following his finale with the lustful prince, Gawain returns to the beautiful lady in a melancholy mood. He has failed to solve the last of the three riddles of the Green Knight within the time limit, and must therefore allow the Green Knight one swing at his neck with an axe.Gawain rides out to meet the Knight. He has around his neck a piece of magical cloth from the lady, showing her favor. The Green knight takes aim with his axe at Gawain's neck and strikes a blow. To his dismay, Gawain survives thanks to the cloth given to him by the lady. Gawain then tells the Green Knight that the game is over since he has struck his single blow. The Green Knight and Sir Gawain then do battle, naturally with Sir Gawain triumphing. As the Green Knight suffers a mortal wound, he asks Sir Gawain to stop battle, realizing that he has already lost.Sir Gawain returns to the beautiful lady. Near the sea, he talks with her and she tells him: "I too live a borrowed year. It began with your act of valor before the Green Knight and now is at an end." As he touches her on the cheek, she flies away as a dove, returning to Lyonesse.

ProductionThe film was copyrighted in 1983 and released the following year. Filming took place in Wales and Ireland, as well as the Chateaux Pierrefonds and Avignon in France. Period wardrobe was culled from the collections of stock rooms of the Royal National Theatre and the Bristol Old Vic as well as Berman's and Nathan's, the French Aristide Boyer and the Spanish Cornejo.Director Stephen Weeks hoped to cast Mark Hamill as Gawain but producers Menahem Golan and Yoram Globus insisted on Miles O'Keeffe for the role. The film also stars Emma Sutton who would later appear a another film about the Arthurian legends, Merlin of the Crystal Cave.

Film: Sword of the Valiant

swashbuckling

Film: First Knight

First Knight is a 1995 American romantic fantasy adventure film based on Arthurian legend, directed by Jerry Zucker. It stars Richard Gere as Lancelot, Julia Ormond as Guinevere, Sean Connery as King Arthur and Ben Cross as Malagant.The film follows the rogue Lancelot's romance with Lady Guinevere of Leonesse, who is to marry King Arthur of Camelot, while the land is threatened by the renegade knight Malagant. The film is noteworthy for its absence of magical elements, its drawing on the Arthurian material of Chrétien de Troyes for plot elements and the substantial age difference between Arthur and GuineverePlot summaryThe film's opening text establishes that King Arthur of Camelot, victorious from his wars, has dedicated his reign to promoting justice and peace and now wishes to marry. However, Malagant, a Knight of the Round Table, desires the throne for himself and rebels.The movie opens with Lancelot, a vagabond and skilled swordsman, dueling in small villages for money. Lancelot attributes his skill to his lack of concern whether he lives or dies. Guinevere, the ruler of Leonesse, decides to marry Arthur partly out of admiration and partly for security against Malagant, who is shown raiding a village. While traveling, Lancelot chances by Guinevere's carriage on the way to Camelot, and helps spoil Malagant's ambush meant to kidnap her. He falls in love with Guinevere, who refuses his advances. Though Lancelot urges her to follow her heart, Guinevere remains bound by her duty. She is subsequently reunited with her escort.Later, Lancelot arrives in Camelot and successfully navigates an obstacle course on the prospect of a kiss from Guinevere, though he instead kisses her hand. He also wins an audience with her husband-to-be, Arthur. Impressed by Lancelot's courage and struck by his recklessness and freewheeling, Arthur shows him the Round Table which symbolizes a life of service and brotherhood. Guinevere is subsequently kidnapped by Malagant's followers and imprisoned in an oubliette. Lancelot poses as a messenger to Malagant only to escape with Guinevere and return her to Camelot. Once again, Lancelot tries to win her heart, but is unsuccessful. On the return journey, it is revealed that Lancelot was orphaned and rendered homeless after bandits attacked his village, and has been wandering ever since.In gratitude, Arthur offers Lancelot a higher calling in life as a Knight of the Round Table. Amidst the protests of the other Knights (who are suspicious of his station), and of Guinevere (who struggles with her feelings for him), Lancelot accepts and takes Malagant's place at the Table, saying he has found something to care about. Arthur and Guinevere are subsequently wedded. However, a messenger from Leonesse arrives, with news that Malagant has invaded. Arthur leads his troops to Leonesse and successfully defeats Malagant's forces. Lancelot wins the respect of the other Knights with his prowess in battle. He also learns to embrace Arthur's philosophy, moved by the plight of villagersUpon returning to Camelot, Lancelot feels guilty about his feelings for the queen, and in private announces his departure to her. She grants him a kiss, which turns into a passionate embrace, just in time for the king to interrupt. Though Guinevere claims to love both Arthur and Lancelot - albeit in different ways - the two are charged with treason. The open trial in the great square of Camelot is interrupted by a surprise invasion by Malagant, ready to burn Camelot and kill Arthur if he does not swear fealty. Instead Arthur commands his subjects to fight, and Malagant's men shoot him with crossbows. A battle between Malagant's men and Camelot's soldiers and citizens ensues, and Lancelot and Malagant face off. Disarmed, Lancelot seizes Arthur's fallen sword and kills Malagant. The people of Camelot win the battle, but Arthur dies of his wounds. On his deathbed, he asks Lancelot to "take care of her for me" - a double entendre referring to both Camelot and Guinevere. The movie closes with a funeral raft carrying Arthur's body floating out to sea, which is set aflame.

Partial castRichard Gere - LancelotJulia Ormond - GuinevereSean Connery - King ArthurBen Cross - Prince MalagantJohn Gielgud - OswaldLiam Cunningham - Sir AgravaineChristopher Villiers - Sir KayValentine Pelka - Sir PatriseColin McCormack - Sir MadorAlexis Denisof - Sir GaherisRalph Ineson - RalfStuart Bunce - Peter ProductionDirector Jerry Zucker, who also co-produced with Hunt Lowry, made First Knight as a follow-up to his Academy Award nominated 1990 hit Ghost. Previously, he was primarily known for teaming with his brother David Zucker and with Jim Abrahams to create comedies such as Airplane! and The Naked Gun.Location shots were filmed in North Wales.The script was written by William Nicholson.Adam Greenberg was in charge of cinematography, while production design was under John Box.The film's score was composed by Jerry Goldsmith. Box office and receptionThe film managed to earn a domestic gross of $37,600,435 and $90,000,000 in foreign markets; overall, earning a combined take of $127,600,435 worldwide.Critical reaction to the film has been mostly negative. Based on 41 reviewshttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0113071/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fDfE53aQMvM

Film: First Knight

Connery and Gere

Launcelot

Fights the Dragon

Elaine

Farewell

Film: Guinevere

Guinevere is a 1994 television movie based on the Arthurian legend. The story is told from Queen Guinevere's point of view, presenting her as the driving force behind the success of Camelot. It was adapted from author Persia Woolley's novels Child of the Northern Spring, Queen of the Summer Stars, and Legends Decked in Autumn Gold.

Film: Guinevere

in charge of her own destiny

Film:The Mists of Avalon

The Mists of Avalon is a 2001 miniseries based on the novel of the same name by Marion Zimmer Bradley. It was produced by American cable channel TNT and directed by Uli Edel. The miniseries "was watched by more than 30 million unduplicated viewers" during its premiere; the first episode "was the highest-rated original movie of the summer on basic cable."[Plot Summary Part I: Igraine and UtherThe film begins with a battered, dirty, and injured Morgaine riding in a small boat through a misty river. Most of the film is a reflection through her eyes, with Morgaine as narrator.In the beginning of the film, the Saxons are attempting to brutally invade Britain. It is noted that a strong king is needed to unite Pagans and Christians and defeat the Saxons before Avalon and Britain are lost. Morgaine is eight, living with her pagan mother Igraine and Christian father Gorlois. Igraine's little sister, Morgause, lives with them too. One day, her oldest sister, Viviane, the Lady of the Lake, along with Merlin, comes to Igraine with a prophecy that she will bear the Pagan/Christian king who is destined to best the Saxons. Igraine is distressed after hearing that the child will not be Gorlois', and she refuses to bear the heir. Merlin expresses that the father of the great king would be wearing a dragon on his arm. Igraine doesn't listen. Suddenly, little Morgaine has a vision, seeing her father dead. Viviane is pleased that Morgaine has "the sight."Soon, Igraine and Gorlois, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall, are invited to a feast with the High King, who has called the feast to name his successor. In storms Uther Pendragon, a dashing and rugged man. Igraine is immediately drawn to him, and therefore Gorlois soon antagonizes Uther. However, as soon as Igraine sees Uther extend his arm, revealing the dragon of the prophecy, Igraine is flustered and leaves. Uther pursues her outside, where she is cold and unfeeling, trying to avoid any feelings. Uther expresses that he, as a Pagan, knew something bonded them before they even met. Gorlois interrupts the meeting, announcing out of jealousy that Uther was named the High King's successor.Later, after Uther is crowned, Gorlois sets his army up outside of Uther's camp to kill Uther. Viviane sends Igraine a vision and tells her she can still save Uther; Igraine sends her soul out to Uther and warns him just in time for his men to evacuate. A battle between Gorlois and Uther ensues, and Igraine faints.The next day, Morgaine sees her mother feverish and ill, and her aunt Morgause sends Morgaine to pick some herbs despite the manor being on lockdown on orders from Gorlois to protect Igraine and Morgaine. She is caught, but is released after a man in armor and Merlin approach the gates. A guard asks to see the masked man's face, and Merlin puts a charm on the man to make him appear as Gorlois. At first, Morgaine is thankful her father is alive, but she noticed the dragon of the man's arm and begins to understand that her "father" is Uther. Later, she is waiting for her father's body to come home. Morgause says that "Gorlois" is upstairs sleeping with Igraine, but Morgaine tells Morgause that her father is dead. Gorlois' corpse then arrives, and Igraine is shell shocked. Uther emerges in his true form. Morgause, however, ignores the drama, as the man who delivered Gorlois' body, King Lot of Orkney, takes notice of her, and she falls in love.Uther takes Morgaine and Igraine to Camelot, where Igraine gives birth to Arthur Pendragon, the grand new heir of the prophecy.Part II: Morgaine is taken to AvalonArthur and Morgaine grow up loving each other dearly. When Arthur is five and Morgaine is 13, Viviane and Merlin return, saying that it is time to take Arthur away for his training with Merlin as future king. Viviane then orders Morgaine to come with her to Avalon to be trained as a priestess. Igraine and Uther do not want Morgaine to go, but Viviane threatens to withdraw Avalon's support of Uther, and Morgaine and Arthur are taken away from Camelot.Arthur and Morgaine are torn apart tearfully from each other, Arthur heading north with Merlin, and Morgaine heading south with Viviane. Viviane then takes Morgaine behind a misty curtain into a utopian island, Avalon. Viviane trains Morgaine to gain power of the elements, and in the servitiude of the Mother Goddess. It takes ten years for Morgaine to be initiated, her final test being to part the mists. Igraine has a distressful vision of Morgaine "being taken."Soon after her initiation, Morgaine meets her cousin Lancelot (whose mother is Viviane), a handsome and bold warrior. He has come to seek his mother's blessing in battle, but she is reluctant to give it. Morgaine shows him a stone circle, and she begins to fall in love with him. Lancelot sees through the misty veil a few Christian nuns and some virgin postulants walking down a path. One of them strays and seems as if she is aware of Avalon's existence. Lancelot eggs Morgaine to open the mists for her, and she does so. The postulant is startled, but quickly smitten with Lancelot, as Lancelot is with her. The girl's name is Gwenhwyfar, daughter of a Welsh king. Morgaine immediately dislikes Gwenhwyfar, and closes the mists on her, separating them. Lancelot, annoyed, decides to defy his mother and leaves.A few days later, on Beltane, Viviane sends Morgaine to be a part of a fertility rite as "The Virgin Huntress", where Morgaine is to make love to the man who kills the king's stag. Both partners are masked, so neither knows who the other is, but afterward, Morgaine longs for it to be Lancelot, but she knows she will never know for sure.Part III: Arthur is crownedArthur having completed his training with Merlin, finds his father, Uther, in a Saxon battle just before he dies. He is locked in a burning building and calls to both God and Goddess for help. Viviane, on behalf of the Goddess, answers, and gives Arthur Excalibur in exchange for loyalty to Avalon and paganism as well as Christianity. Arthur quickly agrees, and defeats the Saxons.Morgaine is finally released from Avalon and returns to Camelot for her brother's coronation. She reunites first with Morgause, who is now Queen of Orkney and has a teenage son, Gawain. She then finds her mother, old and worn, sitting by a window with the Bishop Patrick. Igraine says that she is becoming a Christian nun and moving to Glastonbury. She says that she wants to seek repentance for betraying Gorlois long ago and being twice widowed. Morgaine is startled by this news and distressed.Meanwhile, Arthur has been given a Christian Princess as his bride. As Arthur introduces his bride to Lancelot, she is revealed to be Gwenhwyfar. Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar are bewildered by this twist of fate, and have an awkward first meeting. Arthur then happily reunites with Morgaine. But soon, Arthur naively reveals that he was the King's Stag at the Beltane feast. Morgaine, shocked that she'd made passionate love to her own brother, cries in despair and shame. In a brief scene, Morgause is seen performing an infertility curse on Gwenhwyfar, a woman "she has decided to hate," cursing her to barrenness.Arthur is crowned king under the both Pendragon and Christian banners. The Bishop Patrick then weds him to Gwenhwyfar. Merlin and Viviane appear startled, this union seemingly unexpected even to them. Morgause whispers to her husband that Gwenhwyfar will never have children, making her son Gawain next in line to the throne. Morgaine feels sick and quickly leaves the celebration. Morgause follows her; Morgaine reveals that she is pregnant but does not mention that Arthur is the father. Morgause is surprised—Morgaine's baby would inherit the crown before Gawain.Arthur is called away soon after his coronation, leaving Gwenhwyfar in Lancelot's care. They go riding one day, only to be attacked by Saxons. Lancelot saves Gwenhwyfar from being raped, and they hide. Gwenhwyfar and Lancelot kiss, but vow that their loyalties are to Arthur first, not each other, and they swear to never have an affair.Part IV: Mordred is bornMorgause concocts a potion to help Morgaine abort her baby. Viviane stops Morgaine before she can drink it. Morgause warns Morgaine to never be Viviane's pawn. Morgaine is furious with Viviane for letting this abomination happen: a bastard child fathered by her own brother. Viviane wants this baby to be Arthur's heir, whose pagan roots would make him the greatest ruler Britain has ever seen. Morgaine renounces Viviane and Avalon, and moves to Orkney with Morgause. In the middle of winter, Morgaine gives birth to a son, Mordred. Morgause is advised by her husband, Lot, to kill the child. Indeed, Morgause has ample opportunity to kill him, as Morgaine is unconscious due to a fever she develops after childbirth. She sets Mordred in front of a cold open window. Morgaine suddenly calls out in her fever that Arthur is the father. Morgause gets a new idea and saves the baby and takes him to be nursed. She tells her husband that she will tutor and raise Mordred so the boy will have her influence. She even nurses Mordred for the first time herself.Part V: Morgaine returns to CamelotThis begins the second part of the miniseries. Morgaine, convinced by Morgause, decides to return to Camelot. Arthur has become the great king everyone has hoped for, and Gwenhwyfar is beginning to grow distressed at her inability to produce the son Arthur needs to succeed him. Arthur assures Gwenhwyfar that they are still young and have years to bear children.Morgaine returns to Camelot and is greeted by Arthur. She is introduced to Sir Accolon, a pagan Knight of the Round Table and son of the elderly pagan King Uriens of North Wales. Accolon and Morgaine are drawn to each other. Meanwhile, Lancelot is dealing with increased stress over Gwenhwyfar and his growing desire for her. Gwenhwyfar, obsessed with bearing children, resorts to asking Morgaine for a fertility charm. Morgaine obliges, and gives her the charm on the night of Beltane.On the night of Beltane, at a feast, Arthur gets very drunk. Meanwhile, Morgaine, feeling insulted by Arthur's lewd remarks towards paganism, leaves the feast and rides out towards the field where the pagans light the Beltane fires and dance. Accolon follows her outside. Arthur, in the meantime, is taken to bed, barely awake, by a spirited Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar. Arthur then brings up how he notices Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar looking at each other, and how Gwenhwyfar has no child. Arthur, blaming the lack of an heir on himself, suggests that Gwenhwyfar sleep with both him and Lancelot in the hopes of conceiving the needed heir. Arthur emphasizes that Gwenhwyfar will be able to swear that the child was conceived in the king's bed. Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar are both skeptical, but Arthur persuades them, and they all bed down together. Meanwhile, Morgaine and Accolon kiss amongst the dancing pagans.The next day, Lancelot is feeling regret for what he has done with Gwenhwyfar and Arthur. Morgaine realizes that Lancelot will never love her, so she devises an alternative to Lancelot feeling regret and sadness all his life. Gwenhwyfar has, by this time, gotten her period, and therefore still remains barren. Her serving woman, Elaine, is ecstatic, as Lancelot (encouraged by Morgaine) has asked her to marry him (she was previously seen looking at him). Gwenhwyfar, angered and distressed, dismisses her. Gwenhwyfar is also annoyed at Morgaine, who promised the charm would work, and resents Arthur for insisting the threesome would work.At Lancelot and Elaine's wedding, Morgaine speaks with Merlin. Viviane is absent from her son's wedding, as the pagan banners of Pendragon have been taken down from Camelot due to Gwenhwyfar being hysterically upset with the "painted savages." Meanwhile, King Uriens discusses taking a second wife (he is a widower) with Arthur, and out of spite, Gwenhwyfar suggests Morgaine. Arthur isn't too keen on the idea, but he and Gwenhwyfar ask Morgaine. Gwenhwyfar carefully words the proposal, and Morgaine thinks it is Accolon proposing, and accepts. She only finds out too late that she was engaged to the father, and not the son. Morgaine decides that it would be for the best to go through with the marriage, as Wales was an important political ally. Merlin, upset by Morgaine leaving Camelot with Uriens, leaves the feast.Part VI: Mordred learns of his birthrightMerlin, upon returning to Avalon, dies of old age and tiredness, with Viviane horribly upset, and Avalon filling with mist. Morgaine, ironically, finds her marriage to Uriens to be the few happy years her life would bring her. Accolon becomes like a son to her, and for the first time in her life, she feels like part of a family.Meanwhile, in Scotland, Mordred, Morgaine's son by Arthur, has grown to manhood. Viviane comes to him and tells him of his being next in line for the throne. Mordred takes this to heart and tells Morgause (whom he called "Mother") he is going to claim his birthright. When he arrives in Camelot, Arthur is planning to turn back the Saxons, who have come on Britain again in force. Mordred makes himself known to Arthur only as his nephew, his mother being Morgaine. Arthur is not told Mordred is his son, and Mordred is welcomed with open arms into Camelot.King Uriens dies, and Morgaine decides to go back to Avalon. However, the mists will not open for her, and Morgaine believes the Goddess is dying. In despair, she crouches in the boat and lets herself float, only to be found by Igraine, still alive and living among the nuns. The women have a brief but happy reunion.Mordred and Arthur, overlooking the knights one day, begin a discussion about the next heir. Mordred insists Arthur should name someone, but Arthur still believes Gwenhwyfar might still bear a son. Mordred insists he choose someone before Arthur dies in battle. Arthur says he needs someone of his own descent. It is here that Mordred reveals himself as Arthur's son and that Morgaine was the Virgin Huntress from long ago. Gwenhwyfar overhears this and runs away, embarrassed and despaired.Part VII: The downfall of CamelotGwenhwyfar has fallen frantically into praying all day before her dozens of religious icons. One day Lancelot meets her there, and they plan a secret rendezvous, only to have Mordred overhear. Mordred catches the pair before they sleep together, and he threatens to take both of them before the king and have them hung for infidelity. Lancelot and Gwenhwyfar escape, and they part for the last time. Gwenhwyfar enters Glastonbury, where Igraine meets her. Igraine takes her to Morgaine, still living there, and both women finally make amends with each other.Morgaine goes back to Camelot, now in ruins, with various men crucified, hung and decapitated along the walls of the palace. Mordred, Morgaine, Viviane, and Morgause all meet on the stairs to the palace. Viviane reveals Morgause's evil for all to see, reminding the people of the true ways of the Goddess; Morgause, in anger, takes a knife to kill Viviane, but Viviane quickly catches the knife and in turn, stabs Morgause first. Morgause falls dead. Mordred, having thought of Morgause as his real mother, takes his sword and kills Viviane. Because Viviane was Lady of the Lake, the sun is eclipsed, and Igraine senses her sisters are dead. Raven, a priestess who had taken a vow of silence, screams vocally for the first time in despair.A final battle then is set to take place between the Saxons and Arthur's army. Lancelot joins him at the front lines just before the battle. Morgaine is off seeing over the cremation of Viviane and Morgause. Mordred has actually joined the Saxons and is leading them to Arthur. Morgaine sees this in a vision as the bodies of her aunts burn before her, and rides off to the battlefield. The fierce battle kills all until only Mordred and Arthur stand. Morgaine arrives all too late. She sees the bodies of Gawain, Accolon, and Lancelot among the thousands. Mordred and Arthur have both fatally wounded each other. Mordred dies first, in Morgaine's arms, but Arthur lingers. Arthur begs Morgaine to take him to Avalon. Part VIII: A new incarnationAs in the beginning, Morgaine is in the boat. Arthur, barely alive, is lying in front of her; Morgaine tries to part the mists, but fails. Arthur holds out Exalibur, suggesting the Goddess needs an offering. Morgaine hurls the sword into the mist, where it is mystically transformed into a cross, and temporarily opens up the mists to Avalon. Arthur sees Avalon, and Morgaine declares, "We're home!" Arthur sees the beautiful land, and then dies. As Arthur dies, the mists close permanently.Morgaine then goes to Glastonbury — not to live as a nun, but because she has nowhere else to go. She is convinced the Goddess is dead, until one day she sees a little girl praying at the feet of the Virgin Mary. Morgaine smiles, believing that the Goddess isn't dead, but rather has reincarnated herself in the form of Mary, and perhaps there is hope to one day, generations later, to bring Avalon back. CastAnjelica Huston as VivianeJulianna Margulies as MorgaineJoan Allen as MorgauseSamantha Mathis as GwenhwyfarCaroline Goodall as IgraineEdward Atterton as ArthurMichael Vartan as LancelotMichael Byrne as MerlinHans Matheson as MordredMark Lewis Jones as UtherClive Russell as GorloisBiddy Hodson as ElaineIan Duncan as AccolonTamsin Egerton as Young Morgainehttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt0244353/http://www.twoevilmonks.org/mistsavn/mistsavl1.htmhttp://www.culturevulture.net/Television/MistsofAvalon.htm

Film: Mists of Avalon

A Disappearing World

Merlin

Wizard/ Druid?

Morgan La Fay

Priestess

Nimue

Weaves her spells of Beauty

Film: Merlin

Merlin is a 3 hour television miniseries released in 1998 that retells the famous legend of King Arthur from the perspective of the wizard Merlin. Sam Neill stars in the title role in a story that covers not only the rise and fall of Camelot but also the phase, supposedly in the history of Britain, that had preceded it.The film deviated from more traditional versions of the myth, notably by including new characters such as Frik and by keeping Merlin through the whole reign of King Arthur over Logres (whereas in older versions Merlin left earlier on in the king's reign).The film was followed by a sequel in 2006, Merlin's Apprentice, which had nothing to do with traditional Arthurian legendsPlotAs Christianity spreads over Britain, the power of the pagan goddess Queen Mab (Miranda Richardson) is waning, and her world of magic faces imminent extinction. In order to save it, Mab decides to create a half human, half magic being, a wizard, that she believes will bring people back to the "Old Ways" (the pagan religion is said to believe in the “Old Ways” in this story).Merlin is created by Queen Mab, and is born to a human mother, Elissa, though he possesses no mortal father. Elissa dies shortly after giving birth to Merlin, leaving the child to be raised by Ambrosia, an old woman who used to be a pagan, but has since rejected Mab and the "Old Ways". Ambrosia refuses to give the new born Merlin to Mab, arguing that love is needed to raise a child, and that Mab is incapable of providing it. Mab seems to agree on this, and leaves, but warns Ambrosia that one day she will return and take him away once he manifests his powers.Merlin grows up with no knowledge of his true heritage, until one day, he uses magic for the first time to save a young woman named Nimue (Isabella Rossellini), daughter of a nobleman. In return for her life, she grants him a kiss, they exchange names and Merlin vows never to forget the young Nimue. On returning home he finds a horse awaiting him, the messenger that Mab has sent him to follow. Unknowingly, Merlin is led to Mab's underground palace, where she plans to train him in magic until he becomes the greatest wizard of all time. Merlin spends some time learning magical skills from Frik (Martin Short), Mab's gnome servant. He masters being a hand-wizard, the second stage of his learning, but cannot master being a magician of ‘pure thought’like Queen Mab.He doesn't like magic and eventually leaves for his old home when he learns from Mab that his foster mother Ambrosia is dying. Unfortunately, he only arrives in time to see the end of an argument between Mab and Ambrosia. She is unable to survive, and in her last breath, makes Merlin swear to only follow his heart. On her grave he makes an oath that he will never use magic unless it is to defeat Mab.Some years later, Merlin is summoned to see King Vortigern (Rutger Hauer). Upon his arrival he learns that a pagan priest has promised the King that Merlin’s blood will be the cure to his ever-crumbling castle. This Soothsayer had earlier asked Queen Mab for help in solving the tyrant King’s request, and she suggested finding a man “with no mortal father”, thus leading him to Merlin. However, Merlin informs the King that his castle is being built on water, and that he would be more useful alive as he has “dreams” that predict the future. The King locks him in a dungeon, and tells him to dream. Merlin, suffering in this dungeon sees Nimue through his cell bars, she remembers him and persuades King Vortigern to release Merlin. Merlin and Nimue grow close, but Mab plots against their union and Merlin cannot save Nimue from getting injured. She is sent to Avalon to recover, and Merlin leaves to defeat Vortigern and his new ally, Mab.Soon Merlin dreams of two dragons, a red defeating a white. The red dragon is that of Uther Pendragon. Merlin joins Uther Pendragon, the enemy of the tyrant king Vortigern. Merlin helps Uther win the war against Vortigern (whom Merlin kills with the aid of the magical sword Excalibur, given to him as a gift by the Lady of the Lake, Queen Mab's sister). He believes that Uther will be a just, decent king. However, Uther becomes infatuated with Igraine, the wife of the Duke of Cornwall. Uther tries to take Lady Igraine by force, but cannot defeat the nobleman’s castle defence. Merlin, wanting to stop civil war and to teach the child he knows will come, strikes a deal with Uther: he will help Uther bed Igraine, in exchange for guardianship of the child born from the union. Once this is agreed, Merlin uses magic to transform Uther’s appearance into that of the Duke's, and he enters the castle and sleeps with Igraine. Her real husband is then killed by Uther’s men. Igraine’s daughter, Morgan le Fay (Helena Bonham Carter), is the only one who seems to realize Uther’s true form. Merlin then takes Excalibur from King Uther and places it within “the Rock of Ages”, who promises to keep it until the true king returns, a man with a good heart.Igraine eventually gives birth to Arthur, but dies in childbirth. Frik persuades the infant Morgan le Fay to place a black stone beneath the baby Arthur’s sheets, thus cursing his life. Arthur is taken by Merlin as an apprentice, not in magic, but in ethics and everything he needs to become the perfect king Merlin wishes to create.In time, Uther turns mad and commits suicide, which leaves the kingdom in turmoil over who will be the new King. Merlin informs Arthur of his rightful place as the only son of Uther, and true heir to the throne. Mab attempts to assassinate Arthur by unleashing a pack of griffons; though Merlin foils the attack, he is reminded Mab is still an ever-present threat. With the throne vacant, all the knights in the Kingdom try to take Excalibur from the Rock of Ages. With Mab and Merlin watching, Arthur arrives and tries to take the sword. The Rock releases its grip, but Mab heats the sword. Arthur persists to remove it, and with burning, blood-soaked hands, raises it for all the knights to see (Mab uses it to claim that just as Arthur's reign begins in blood, so shall it end the same way), and later is crowned King. Arthur then decides to build Camelot, after a suggestion from Merlin. Later, Mab manages to get Morgan le Fay (after transforming her disfigured face), Arthur's half-sister, to seduce the young Arthur. Morgan le Fey then gives birth to Arthur's son, Mordred, whom Mab raises to become Arthur's downfall and bring back the Old Ways. As Mordred is from a cursed union, he is exceptionally strong and grows and at an abnormally fast rate.Arthur marries Guinevere (Lena Headey) in the walls of a newly built Camelot. He then wishes to find the Holy Grail, so he holds a contest to find a champion who will defend and build Camelot in his absence. The Lady of the Lake guides Merlin to a “good man”, and finds Lancelot du Lac with his wife and his son, Galahad. Merlin brings Lancelot back to Camelot, who then wins the contest. Unfortunately, in Arthur's abscence, Guinevere and Lancelot become infatuated with each other and embark on a love affair, despite warning from Merlin of the consequences. Mab makes sure Lancelot’s wife can see his betrayal, and she is found dead at the shores of Camelot not long after. When Merlin accuses Lancelot of killing her by breaking her heart, he flees Camelot with his guilt. Arthur returns to the city shortly afterwards, whereupon Mordred makes his presence as Arthur's son and heir known and reveals Guinevere's betrayal to all. Reluctant, but outmaneuvered by Mordred, Arthur is forced to condemn her to be burned at the stake for treason. Mid-way through the execution, Arthur changes his mind and begs Merlin to save her, so Merlin makes it rain. However, Lancelot fights his way into Camelot and takes Guinevere away. Furious, Mordred confronts Arthur, who denounces and banishes him. Furious, Mordred begins to raise an army among those dissatisfied with Arthur and Merlin.Frik and Morgan le Fay fall in love after Mab’s magic makes them both beautiful. However, when it comes time for Mab to take Mordred back to her homeland to defeat Merlin and Arthur, Mab kills Morgan with Frik watching. Frik holds the dying Morgan and their true ugly forms return, but they both call each other beautiful anyway and she dies in his arms. Frik vows revenge on Mab, so she takes his powers away.Queen Mab then lures Nimue into a magical wilderness and removes the scars from her past injury, explaining she wishes to keep Merlin out of the way so he can't intervene in the battles to come. Wanting to be with him, Nimue agrees and sends for Merlin: he comes to her, but senses a trap when he realises the idyllic paradise they are in is a creation of Mab's. However, Nimue compels him to give up his war with her and simply be at peace.Meanwhile, the final battle of Camlann rages between the armies of Mordred and Arthur: many on both sides are slain, and in a climatic duel, Arthur defeats Mordred. In a moment of weakness, Mordred deals Arthur a fatal blow, but Arthur slays him as well. Merlin, having heard the screams of battle, and knowing Arthur is dying, leaves Nimue to go to his aid: however, once he leaves their haven, it seals behind him (Mab had already warned Nimue once they were inside, they could never leave). Knowing he has lost her forever, Merlin races to Arthur.At Camlann, both Mab and Merlin witness the deaths of their protegees: Mab's dark magic is unable to save Mordred, while Arthur lives long enough for Merlin to arrive. Arthur tells Merlin to return Excalibur to the lake, and that no-one can be allowed to wield its power. Merlin comforts Arthur with the knowledge that he was a great king and the right man to wield Excalibur. He leaves Arthur to return the sword, grief-stricken as his king, student and friend dies behind him.Merlin throws Excalibur back into the Lake, and tells the Lady of the Lake to take it back: her arm reaches up and catches the sword before it hits the water. Merlin angrily accuses her of lying to him, upon which he falls to his knees in sorrow. She emerges and responds she had showed Merlin where to find the answer. Merlin angrily reminds her of how he found Lancelot on her advice and his betrayal of Arthur, but then cuts himself off in mid-sentence, realising he was mistaken. The Lady of the Lake confirms this, informing Merlin that it was Galahad that she had meant for Merlin. She comforts a horrified Merlin with the words “It's human to make mistakes, Merlin and part of you is human...the best part”. She then bids Merlin goodbye, saying that her sister Mab was right about one thing "When we're forgotten, we cease to exist".Furious, Merlin returns to Camelot, where he finds Mab sitting at the Round Table. Frik, the gnome, explains that Mab is weakened, but that she will be dangerous. With nothing more to lose, the pair engage in a intense magical duel that destroys the Round Table. Unable to vanquish Merlin, Mab mocks him and tells him that he and his human followers can't destroy her, but Merlin knows that there are few people that believe in the 'Old Ways'. He turns his back on her telling her that everyone will forget her, and in forgetting, she will no longer exist. Everyone leaves, ignoring Mab's furious calls, and soon, she fades away into nothing, just the way she had feared from the beginning. It is presumed that all remnants of the 'Old Ways' fade away too, including the Lady of the Lake, although The Rock may have survived in some form as he confidentially stated to Mab "That (being forgotten) is your fear, not mine! I cannot die".At the film's conclusion, Merlin is seen as a wizened old pauper, telling his story for money. An aged Frik finds him, mentioning, "It's not exactly as I remember," to which Merlin replies, "They like it better this way," alluding to the changes from the traditional Arthurian Legend. A now ancient Merlin is reunited with his love Nimue with the help of the equally-aged Frik, who explains that when Queen Mab's magic faded away, Nimue was released from her magical prison. Merlin uses "one last trick" to restore their youth so that they can finally spend their lives together. The film's closing words are “That’s the end of magic”.ProductionIt was produced by Dyson Lovell and directed by Steve Barron. The story is by Edward Khmara with the teleplay written by David Stevens and Peter Barnes. Nicholas Clay, who played Lancelot in John Boorman's 1981 film Excalibur, has a small role as Guinevere's father, Lord Leo.Although the costumes used in this movie appear to be more historically accurate than those found in Excalibur (with Celtic and Roman-style armor in place of full suits of plate), there are also sprites, a dragon, a talking mountain (voiced by James Earl Jones) and a talking horse (voiced by Gielgud) that ensure the magical element is well-represented.Illustrator Alan Lee served as the film's conceptual designer.NovelisationsThree books were written as novelisations of the movie they included new ideas and characters including former priest Hearne and Lord Idath who rule Anoeth the land of Death and Winter. The books are as follows:Merlin: The Old MagicMuch of what occurs in this book is not in the film, Merlin's mother Elissa is introduced as a Princess and novice Nun to Avalon who moves out with Ambrosia to Barnstable Forest when she becomes pregnant with Merlin. We further see Ambrosia's life and her failing faith in Queen Mab who gets Vortigern to take the throne of Britain from its Christian King Constance. Natureally some of the early events unfold such as The Lady of the Lake and Mab not agreeing on creating Merlin etc. but we get to explore Merlin's magic education in the Lands of Magic under the hollow hill. An important element is Merlin being half magic and half human, where Fairy magic relies on illusion Merlin can make illusion real melding fairy spellcraft with human feeling merging the powers together in reality. Frick hides this and Merlin only uses it once in this book by shapeshifting into a bird. We meet Lord Idath the god of death and the wild hunt, Mb's former consort who does not fear as Mab does knowing there is life for him as long as mortals fear the shadow of midnight. The story ends just before Vortigern's men are on their way to get Merlin.Merlin: The King's WizardThis is more familiar with the film where Merlin meets Vortigern and is given Excalibur by The Lady of the Lake. He and Nimue meet again and fall in love. Merlin becomes the King's Wizard and help Uther to become King only to be betrayed and manipulating events like Mab would by allowing him to sleep with the duke of Cornwalls wife. Leading to the birth of Arthur and his turtoring as well as the building of Camelot and arrival of Lacelott. The book ends around this point with problems between the love triangle that is Arthur, Guinevere and Lancelott as well as the birth of Mordred.Merlin: The End of MagicThe battle between Mab and Merlin continues and the disastrous love affair between Lancelot and Guinevere causes chaos. Mordred grows up and Morgan and Frick develop their relationship into true love. Naturally as the title suggests it leads to the end of magic but we learn of the thirteen treasures of Britain, one being Idath's horn which becomes more useful over time. Also Merlin uses his heart magic once more turning fairy illusion into reality and even becomes a wizard of pure thought.SequelHallmark Entertainment filmed a sequel in Vancouver, entitled Merlin's Apprentice, with Neill and Richardson reprising their roles. The miniseries was broadcast in 2006 on Hallmark Channel.The film has also been shown on TV1000.http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0130414/

Film: Merlin

First Take

Film: Merlins Apprentice

Life of Merlin

Film: Merlin's Apprentice

Merlin's Apprentice (sometimes called Merlin's Apprentice: The Search for the Holy Grail) is a 2006 sequel to the hit television miniseries Merlin (1998), featuring Miranda Richardson and Sam Neill reprising their roles as the Lady of the Lake and Merlin respectively.While being vaguely based on Arthurian legend, its plot is completely different from the traditional myths, being set after the death of King Arthur.PlotPart ISatisfied at Camelot's conditions, Merlin decides to go on a holiday in order to rejuvenate. This vacation nap is supposed to last a few months, but when Merlin awakes, he finds he has slept for fifty years. Upon his return to Camelot, he discovers a downtrodden place. Almost all of those he knew have died; Lord Weston runs the kingdom; and the Holy Grail has departed from the castle. However, Merlin's protective enchantments have held invaders in check.A young thief named Jack and his tagalong pig Sir Snout stowaway in a cart entering Camelot, angering its driver Squire Brian. Jack is no ordinary vagrant, as he possesses some rudimentary magical skills. Jack enters the chamber of Yvonne, granddaughter of Sir Gawain and steals a pendant. Yvonne enters and while Jack hides, Master Graham, a local blacksmith whom she loves, visits her. Jack then attempts to steal Merlin's wand while Merlin concentrates on the whereabouts of the Grail. Merlin senses the visitor, and at first evicts him, but later apprentices Jack after a vision of the Holy Grail appears to both of them.The only training the film shows is Merlin tempting Jack with food while telling Jack to resist his hunger and seek a ring that was lost in the castle (which turns out to be the former Round Table). It is around this time that Jack learns the truth of Brian, who is actually Brianna. She disguises herself in order to avenge a wrong done to her family.In his search for the grail, Merlin suspects something is afoul in Camelot that caused the Grail to depart. Merlin confronts Yvonne (who is to be married to Lord Weston when the Grail returns) and her guardian Master Burton. Later while touching the Grail's stand, Merlin sees a vision in which he learns the truth of his absence. The Lady of the Lake enchanted him and created Jack. Thus, Jack's father is Merlin and his mother is the Lady. (This differs from the first film in that the Lady was an almost disinterested party while Merlin battled with her sister Queen Mab).Barbarians threaten Camelot's door, and knights including Brian want to use an enchanted cave in order to surprise the invaders, who they think are building a dam to drown the kingdom. Jack agrees to lift Merlin's enchantment on the passage, but the knights find no construction. In the meantime, the Barbarians directed by the Lady of the Lake enter the passage and breach Camelot's walls, which are vulnerable from the inside.Realizing the impending doom, Merlin tells Jack the truth of his origins. Merlin then magics a bridge to safety and commands the townspeople, including Jack, to escape. As Jack steps off the bridge he breaks the spell to foil the pursuers. Meanwhile, Merlin was left in the walls of Camelot and is decapitated by Rauskaug, the leader of the barbarians.Part II The remaining people of Camelot have traveled the countryside for several months, seeking the Grail while fleeing their enemy. Jack is frustrated that his concentration does not give him insight, so the Lady of the Lake sends him a vision of the Grail's whereabouts. The group goes there, to discover that the water is cursed and several knights are murdered by a beast as they attempt to swim to the Grail's cave. Meanwhile, the Lady has told Rauskaug of their location and the barbarians begin their pursuit.The film centers on the crimes of the Camelot's guardians, which they believe prevent their reaching of the Grail. Yvonne's parents presented her as Gawain's kin but this ruse is discovered when she begs Jack to explore her past through visions. Through these it is discovered that Master Burton and Lord Weston had oppressed the surrounding peoples with taxes, unfair trade, and devious agreements. This is the source of Brianna's anger, as her family was robbed of its property through such a contract.Before Jack goes through Yvonne's past, Yvonne and Graham (Yvonne's true love) go behind a tree and kiss. In that time Jack and Brianna decide to give in to love and start to kiss. They are caught kissing by the other two. Jack tries to put it off as a joke, but Yvonne and Graham now know Brian is a girl. They decide not to tell anyone about Brian/Brianna.In the meantime, Burton hopes to betrothe Yvonne to a Scottish king and indenture the remaining citizens of Camelot to that lord for personal gain. Yvonne and Jack reveal Burton and his wife's past treachery, and instead of a quick execution Jack hopes a trial will cleanse Camelot of its sins. Instead Brianna takes justice into her own hands and kills the pair as the barbarians approach.While the two sides battle, Lord Weston accompanies Jack to the cave. Jack finds the magical strength to open the waterway and the two see the Grail. Jack warns Weston that he is the true poison in Camelot and advises him not to take the grail. When Weston touches it, his impurity turns him to dust. The Lady of the Lake appears and offers Jack a chance to become powerful. Instead he rejects his mother (apparently killing her) and makes a wish of the Grail: Jack says that the Grail may do what it wishes with him, if it will only end the destruction outside. The Grail accepts this unselfish act, and reanimates the dead warriors. Graham holds it aloft and promises a new Camelot will be built.During the reconstruction, Sir Snout tells Jack to speak the name of the land of the dead. Jack goes to Merlin, and the two are allowed to spend the time they didn't have as father and son. The film concludes by hinting that Jack and Brianna will help create the next generation to live in Camelot. NotesAlthough marketed as a sequel, Merlin's Apprentice is more of an "alternate timeline" story. In the original Merlin, the Holy Grail never entered Camelot until after the death of King Arthur. However, in Merlin's Apprentice, the Grail was found during Arthur's reign, only to mysteriously vanish from Camelot after his death.Aside from the "alternate timeline" explanation, another possible explanation presents itself. At the conclusion of Merlin, Frik exclaims that he doesn't remember Merlin's tale exactly as Merlin told it, and Merlin responds that he couldn't tell the people what really happened. This could mean that to make the tale seem more interesting, or to protect the sensibilities of his audience, Merlin changed some facts or left out sensitive details. This does not, however, explain the events after that scene which take place "outside" the framework of being told as a story.http://www.allmovie.com/work/328286http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0463826/

Film: King Arthur 2004

King Arthur is a 2004 film directed by Antoine Fuqua and written by David Franzoni. It stars Clive Owen as the title character.The producers of the film claim to present a historically accurate version of the Arthurian legends, supposedly inspired by new archaeological findings. The accuracy of these claims is subject to debate, but the film is unusual in representing Arthur as a Roman officer rather than a medieval knight. It was shot in England, Ireland, and Wales.PlotArthur, also known as Artorius Castus (Clive Owen), is portrayed as a Roman cavalry officer, the son of a Roman father and a Celtic mother, who leads a military force of Sarmatian auxiliary cavalry in Britain at the close of the Roman occupation in 467 A.D. He and his men guard Hadrian's Wall against the Woads, a Celtic people who resist Roman rule, based on the historical Picts, led by the mysterious Merlin. He is not the first Arthur — for generations, his ancestors have manned the Wall, leading Sarmatian auxiliaries.As the film starts, Arthur and his remaining knights Lancelot (whose voiceover is heard at the beginning and end), Bors, Tristan, Gawain, Galahad and Dagonet - are expecting discharge from the service of the Empire after faithfully serving for 15 years (Lancelot's entry into service as a youth in 452 A.D. is depicted at the very beginning of the film). However, on the night they ought to receive their freedom, they are dispatched on a final and possibly suicidal mission by Bishop Germanius in the freezing winter to rescue the important Roman family of Marius Honorius, his wife, and their son, Alecto, who is the Pope's favorite "godson" (and, according to Bishop Germanius, may be "destined to be Pope one day"), from impending capture by the invading Saxons, who are led by their chief Cerdic and his son Cynric. The knights are charged with this rescue because Rome is withdrawing from Britain, it now being considered an indefensible outpost.At the remote estate, Arthur explains his mission to Marius, who becomes defensive and refuses to leave his grand home. Marius is revealed to have oppressed his serfs on the pretense of speaking for God. While being shown an elder who has been whipped and left tied up out in the elements for holding back food, Arthur advises that Marius does not speak for God. He frees the elder and tells them all that they were "free from their first breath". Arthur soon discovers Marius has also immured pagans: a Woad Guinevere (Keira Knightley) and a small boy, Lucan. Arthur frees them and decides to take everyone, along with Marius' family, back to Hadrian's Wall.Along the journey, Guinevere tells Arthur of the "fairy tales" she'd heard of him, and Arthur is revealed to be half Celt (on his mother's side). Arthur resets the fingers in Guinevere's hand. One night, Guinevere takes Arthur to meet with Merlin, the leader of the Woads. At first, Arthur thinks Guinevere has betrayed him, but Merlin has come in peace. It is revealed in flashback that Arthur's mother had died in a Woad attack when he was a boy. Merlin says that he did not wish for Arthur's mother to die; she was of their blood, as is Arthur. Arthur's famous sword, Excalibur, is also shown to be his father's, which marked his father's burial mound. Arthur pulled it from his father's burial mound in an effort to rescue his mother from a burning building. Merlin suggests an alliance between the Woads and the Sarmatian knights, and Arthur leaves in silence.Along the route one dawn, Marius forces a standoff with his own soldiers, taking the boy Lucan hostage. Guinevere uses a bow to shoot Marius dead; his guards stand down and aid the knights in getting all the people to the wall. Tristan returns from scouting the area and tells Arthur that a whole Saxon army is on the move.The group soon encounter the Saxons at an ice-covered river. The knights stay behind to hold up the Saxons and allow the refugees to escape. Greatly outnumbered, Arthur, Guinevere and the knights attempt to repel them with arrows; the battle is won when Dagonet runs to the middle of the ice and breaks it with an axe, at the cost of his life — however, many Saxons are killed.Struck by Rome leaving its subjects to the mercy of the Saxons, Arthur is further disillusioned when he learns that Bishop Pelagius, whose teachings about the equality of all men inspired the brotherhood of his Round Table — has been executed as a heretic by order of Bishop Germanius himself.In due course, Arthur and his remaining men forsake Roman citizenship and form an alliance with the Woads to fight the Saxons. In the climatic battle, the Battle of Badon Hill, the Woads catapult flaming missiles at the Saxon army, and when they enter battle, Guinevere engages in combat with Cynric. Cerdic fights and kills Tristan before facing off with Arthur. Meanwhile, Cynric disarms Guinevere and nearly kills her before Lancelot intervenes and duels Cynric alone. While another Saxon captures Lancelot's attention for a moment, Cynric shoots Lancelot with a Saxon crossbow. Though mortally wounded, Lancelot manages to kill Cynric, and he dies with Guinevere at his side. Arthur kills Cerdic, and the Saxons are defeated.The film ends with Arthur and Guinevere's marriage. Merlin then proclaims him to be their king. King Arthur, Queen Guinevere, and his remaining knights promise to lead the Britons, united with the defeat of the Saxons and retreat of the Romans, against future invaders. The last scene shows Lancelot, Dagonet and Tristan reincarnated as horses and roaming the lands freely, while Lancelot speaks of the fact that their names will live forever in legend.Main castClive Owen - ArthurKeira Knightley - GuinevereIoan Gruffudd - LancelotMads Mikkelsen - TristanJoel Edgerton - GawainHugh Dancy - GalahadRay Winstone - BorsRay Stevenson - DagonetStephen Dillane - MerlinStellan Skarsgård - CerdicTil Schweiger - CynricSean Gilder - JolsPat Kinevane - HortonIvano Marescotti - Bishop GermanusKen Stott - Marius HonoriusLorenzo De Angelis - AlectoProductionThe movie was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer and directed by Antoine Fuqua; David Franzoni, the writer for Gladiator, wrote the screenplay. The historical consultant for the film was John Matthews, an author known for his books on esoteric Celtic spirituality, some of which he co-wrote with his wife Caitlin Matthews. The research consultant was Linda A. Malcor, co-author of From Scythia to Camelot: A Radical Reinterpretation of the Legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the Holy Grail where possible non-Celtic sources for the Arthurian legends are explored.The film's main set, a replica of a section of Hadrian's Wall, was the largest film set ever built in Ireland, and was located in a field in Ballymore-Eustace Co.Kildare. The replica was one kilometre long, which took a crew of 300 construction workers four and a half months to build. The fort in the film was based on the Roman fort named Vindolanda, which was built around 80 AD just south of Hadrian's Wall in what is now called Chesterholm, in Northern England.The film's storyline is mostly original, save for the elements of Saxons as Arthur's adversaries and the Battle of Badon Hill.Many of the traditional elements of the legends are dropped, like the Holy Grail and Tristan's lover Iseult. The film omits the love triangle between Arthur, Lancelot and Guinevere except for mutual attraction between the latter two.The knights' characterizations in the legends are also dropped. The boorish and lusty Bors, father of many children, is very different from his namesake whose purity and celibacy allowed him to witness the Holy Grail.The film does not feature Kay and Bedivere. Along with Gawain, they already appear as Arthur's companions in very early sources, like Culhwch and Olwen in the Mabinogion. The portrayal of Bors, however, is much closer to the traditional depiction of Kay than his legendary namesake.Lancelot and Galahad are portrayed as having similar ages while according to traditional versions they are father and son respectively (this approach is also found in modern Arthurian fiction — such as Bernard Cornwell's The Warlord Chronicles, in which they are brothers).In the film, Lancelot fights using two swords. In Arthurian legend the "Knight with Two Swords" is the ill-fated Sir Balin, but this refers to a cursed sword he keeps, not his fighting style.Guinevere is drastically altered from Arthurian legend — she is portrayed as a barbarian warrior who joins Arthur and the knights in battle. While there was historical precedent for this portrayal (for example, the warrior queen Boudica), no source, early or late, describes Guinevere in this way. Nor is there any evidence for her depiction as a rustic Celt; in fact, in Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae, which contains one of the oldest accounts of the character, Guinevere has Roman blood while Arthur is an indigenous Celt.Dagonet, a self-sacrificing warrior in the film, has Arthur's court jester as his namesake. The character appears in Le Morte D'Arthur and Idylls of the King.Tristan has a pet hawk. In Welsh legends, a figure named Gwalchmai is commonly considered identical with Gawain (both are nephews of Arthur); a popular though unlikely proposed meaning of his name is "hawk of May".The role of traitor, typically ascribed to Mordred, is given a smaller part in the form of a young British scout, played by Alan Devine, who betrays his people to the Saxons. The character is unnamed, but called "British Scout" in the credits. Tristan kills the traitor with an arrow from the other side of Hadrian's Wall during the climactic battle.Despite the film's historical angle, Merlin was not originally part of the legends. It is generally agreed that he is based on two figures - Myrddin Wyllt (Myrddin the Wild), and Aurelius Ambrosius, a highly fictionalized version of the historical war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus. The former had nothing to do with Arthur and flourished after the Arthurian period. This composite Merlin was created by Geoffrey of Monmouth.Historical notesIt would appear that the Arthur depicted in the film is based most closely upon Ambrosius Aurelianus, the Romano-Briton who fought against the Saxons in the 5th century, and was probably the leader of the Romano-British at the Battle of Mons Badonicus (Mount Badon). Nevertheless, Arthur's full name in the film is Artorius Castus, referring to Lucius Artorius Castus, a historical Roman active in Britain in the 2nd century. It is specified Arthur was given the ancestral name of a legendary leader.Also, the film is heavily based on the "Sarmatian connection" theory, which holds that the Arthurian legend is based on the activities and legends of Sarmatian heavy cavalry troops, originally from modern-day Russia and Ukraine, in Britain. Some historians such as Kemp Malone and Linda A. Malcor have proposed that Lucius Artorius Castus himself may have led Sarmatian troops and thus became the "original" historical Arthur; however, since this Artorius lived in the second century, the film's Artorius is probably meant to be his descendant. Despite being Sarmatian, the knights retain their French (i.e. Lancelot) and Celtic-based (i.e. Tristan, original Drustan) names. InaccuraciesLancelot (Ioan Gruffudd) with a 5th century sword held together by a 20th century hex head screw. Despite the film's historically grounded approach, much artistic licence regarding historical figures, peoples, events, religion and weaponry is taken:In the film, the Roman legions withdraw from Britain in 467 AD; in reality, it was completed in 410 AD, nearly 60 years before.The opening text dictates that "King Arthur and his Knights rose from a real hero who lived [...] in a period often called the Dark Ages", whilst the film is set in 467. The Dark Ages actually occurred in Sub-Roman Britain after the last Emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, was deposed by Odoacer in 476 ten years after the date for the setting of the film. The current Roman Emperor in the films time would have been Anthemius.Sarmatian cavalrymen did come to Britain in the 2nd century, when 5,500 Iazyges were transported there as auxiliaries during the Marcomannic Wars, but despite the film's suggestions, the evidence for them remaining there until the 5th century is slight. There is some but little evidence for the continued importation of Scythian-born immigrants to late Roman Britain.The ninth-century Anglo-Saxon Chronicle mentions the arrival of the Saxon leaders Cerdic and Cynric in Britain (at Hampshire) in 495. According to the Chronicle Cynric succeeded Cerdic as king of Wessex in 534 (Cerdic was the founder of the kingdom).[8] Thus the two could not have died at the battle of Mount Badon. The battle is thought to have been fought sometime between 490 to 516.The Picts are called "Woads". This word is a reference to one plant the Picts may have used to make blue paint; however, the use of woad by the Picts is contested by scholars, and the historical Picts were never known by this name. In an interview Antoine Fuqua stated that they used "Wodes" (sic) instead of "Picts" because they thought the latter sounded "a little weird". Nevertheless, John Matthews said in an online article that the name substitution was "meant to echo similar belittling titles given to enemies".

The Saxons are shown attacking Hadrian's Wall from the north. By 467 the Saxons were already occupying parts of Britain far south of the wall, and never invaded Scotland. Later in the film, Cerdic stops a warrior from raping a woman because it would lead to less-than-pure Saxon blood. This scene references the long-held belief that the Anglo-Saxons eradicated the Romano-Celts from the eastern part of the island. This contention, largely based on linguistic evidence, has been challenged by modern genetic analysis, which suggests extensive mixing between Anglo-Saxon and Briton populations. Some historians (and fiction writers) have even suggested that Cerdic himself, who bore a Celtic name, was at least part Briton.Archbishop Germanus' second (and last) mission to Britain was twenty years before (447 AD) and he died the following year. Pelagius is believed to have died decades before 467 AD, likely of old age and nevertheless was not burned at the stake by the ecclesiastical authorities. The Pelagian heresy is misrepresented — it denied original sin, and was not about political freedom as the film implies. The movie implies that the Pope was in control of the Western Roman Empire, although it was actually ruled by the Emperor and de facto controlled by the Magistri Militum and other regional governors.Historically, Sarmatians were armored in the manner of cataphracts (full-length coats of scale armor); the film's Sarmatians are armoured with a mishmash of pseudo-Roman, Turkish, Mongol, and Hunnic designs. The Saxons historically used bows (to a limited extent) and spears instead of crossbows during the period. Though there is evidence for the use of some form of crossbows by Romans (calling them manuballistae) and, some claim, the Picts — the weapon was still not widely used in England until much later. Similarly, the Woads use a trebuchet-like weapon to hurl flaming missiles at the Saxons, though the trebuchet was not re-introduced to Britain until the siege of Dover in 1216. The Romans, however, reportedly used an early form of the trebuchet in their sieges. Roman soldiers displayed in the movie are depicted as legionnaires with 2nd century AD armour. By AD 400, legionaries were no longer in use and comitatenses were the new replacements. Guinevere wears a blue gown in the film. Blue fabric dye was not founded in Europe until the 13th century. Fabric colors used were pale greens, purples, browns, oranges etc. though the colors were very expensive. General designs of women's clothing in the film are also lacking in historical accuracy and unrealistic in terms of the circumstances of the women wearing them. The Roman family which Arthur rescues lives north of Hadrian's Wall. This mission would be unlikely because the Wall represented the extent of Roman rule in Britain, except for brief periods of occupation during the second century AD. (It should be noted that Romanized client states such as that of the Votadini did exist north of the wall even into the Sub-Roman era.)Arthur refers to his fellow soldiers as Knights. The concept of Knights did not come about until the Middle Ages. However, the Romans did have an order of soldiers called Equites, or members of an Equestrian order. The author Simon Baker who wrote "Ancient Rome: The Rise and Fall of an Empire" refers to the people who held this rank as 'Knights'.Elements of the film's promotion have likewise been criticized as historically unsound. Its tagline "The True Story Behind the Legend" has been criticized as false. A trailer for the film claims that historians now agree that Arthur was a real person because of recent archaeological findings; however, historians do not. There is no consensus amongst historians on Arthur's historicity and no recent archaeological find proves Arthur's existence; the so-called "Arthur stone", discovered in 1998 in securely dated 6th century contexts amongst the ruins at Tintagel Castle in Cornwall, created a brief stir but proved irrelevant. ReceptionThe film received mixed reviews. It has a 31% Rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes as of 2009-01-18 - with 57 positive of 181 reviews. It has a 6.2/10 rating on the Internet Movie Database as of November 23, 2008.Robin Rowland criticized critics who disliked the film for its Dark Age setting. Rowland pointed out that several Arthurian novels set in the Dark Ages, like Rosemary Sutcliff's Sword at Sunset and Mary Stewart's Merlin trilogy (The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, and the Last Enchantment). However, these works have little in common with the film's story and Sarmatian angle.Consultant Linda A. Malcor said: "I think these film-makers did a better job than most could have done when it comes to giving us something besides knights in tin foil and damsels in chiffon. ...[they] deserve a lot of praise for the effort that they made." Fellow Arthurian scholar Geoffrey Ashe's opinion was negative. Director's cutA director's cut of the film has been released; it has extra footage of battle scenes as well as more scenes between Lancelot and Guinevere, whose traditional love triangle with Arthur is only hinted at here.Several scenes are also omitted from the director's cut, including one where the knights sit around a camp fire asking about their intended Sarmatian life, in which Bors reveals that his children do not even have names, most simply have numbers. In addition, a sex scene between Guinevere and Arthur is shifted to be chronologically before he is informed of the incoming Saxons towards Hadrian's Wall. This seemingly minor change arguably helps the story flow more smoothly. In the original film he is seen in full battle armor, contemplating a broken image of Pelagius on his floor, and then is disturbed by a call to come outside. When he comes outside, he is hastily putting on a shirt, and his hair is disheveled. In the Director's Cut, after an intimate moment between Arthur and Guinevere explaining Arthur's morals, they carry on into their sexual encounter, and are thus disturbed so that Arthur can be briefed on the Saxons. During the sexual encounter, he is wearing the same outfit he wears during the briefing. The scene where he is examining Pelagius's image is removed. MarketingAfter the premier of the film, Keira Knightley's breasts were enlarged in the US poster. After the poster was released, she said that she is sick of seeing her face over a pair of computer enhanced breasts that are not hers, in every poster for every film that she stars in; and that, "this decision comes from a market research that clearly shows that other women refuse to look at famous actresses and stars with small breasts."Later in 2006, Keira claimed she is 'not allowed to be on a magazine cover in the US without at least a C cup because it "turns people off"'.

Film: King Arthur

Not Historically Correct

Film: The Lost Legion

The Last Legion is a 2007 film directed by Doug Lefler. Produced by Dino De Laurentiis and others, it is based on a 2003 Italian novel of the same name written by Valerio Massimo Manfredi. It stars Colin Firth along with Sir Ben Kingsley and Aishwarya Rai, and premiered in Abu Dhabi on April 6, 2007.The film is loosely inspired by the events of 5th century European history, notably the collapse of the Western Roman Empire under its last Emperor, Romulus Augustus. This is coupled with other facts and legends from the history of Britain and fantastic elements from the legend of King Arthur to provide a basis for the Arthurian legend.PlotThe film is narrated by Ambrosinus, native to Britain, who knows of a legend concerning the sword of Julius Caesar, which was hidden away from evil men. It begins shortly before the coronation of Romulus as Emperor in 460.Having traveled through much of the known world in search of Caesar's sword, Ambrosinus has then become Romulus's tutor. A Druid and part of a secret brotherhood protecting the sword, he at times gives the impression he is a magician, but his "magic" is just trickery. Romulus's father Orestes rules Rome but is not Emperor himself.On the day before the coronation, Odoacer, commander of the barbarian Goths allied with Rome, demands a third of Italy from Orestes, but is rebuffed. The same day, Romulus meets the general of the Nova Invicta Legion, Aurelianus Caius Antonius, called "Aurelius".The night after Romulus is crowned, Rome is attacked by the Goths. Most of Aurelius's men, pledged to protect the emperor, are killed, though Aurelius is only stunned and left for dead. Orestes and his wife are killed by Odoacer's lieutenant Wulfila, who captures Romulus.Next day, Odoacer, now ruler of the Western Empire, plans to have Romulus killed. However, Ambrosinus convinces Odoacer to spare the boy. Instead, Romulus is exiled to Capri along with Ambrosinus, guarded by Wulfila and his men. His prison is a villa constructed more than four centuries earlier by the emperor Tiberius.With Ambrosinus's help, Romulus discovers a hidden chamber within the villa. He comes across a statue of Caesar holding the fabled sword, forged by a Chalybian smith after his military campaigns in Britain. Writing near the statue's feet proclaims the sword was made for "he who is destined to rule". This is interpreted as a prophecy by various characters, and Romulus keeps the weapon.The two are rescued from Capri by the loyal Aurelius and three surviving legionaries, accompanied by a female agent of the Eastern Roman Empire - an Keralan Indian warrior named Mira (trained in the martial art of Kalarippayattu). They take Romulus to a seaport where the Eastern Roman Empire's emissary (whom Mira works for) and the senator Nestor have promised safe passage to Constantinople. However, they barely escape after they learn the Senate and the Eastern Empire have betrayed them and sided with Odoacer.Ambrosinus persuades Romulus to seek refuge in Britain, where the Ninth Legion (called the Dragon Legion) may remain loyal, being far from the events. They are followed by Wulfila and his men; the Goth covets Caesar's sword after learning the prophecy. Crossing the Alps and the English Channel, the party travels to Hadrian's Wall and initially find no evidence of the legion until a farmer approaches and reveals he was its commander. With the collapse of Roman support of Britain, the legion had decided to disband and settle as farmers. They also did not want to antagonize the powerful warlord Vortgyn.Vortgyn also desires the sword of Caesar as he aspires to rule the whole of Britain. It is revealed that Vortgyn and Ambrosinus are old enemies. After meeting with the Goths, Vortgyn decides to either capture or kill Romulus as a gesture to Odoacer. Aurelius, wielding Caesar's sword, leads a few supporters against Vortgyn's forces at Hadrian's Wall. The battle appears hopeless until the rest of the Ninth Legion, having taken up their old Roman arms and uniforms, appear and turn the tide. The two warring sides cease their hostilities when Ambrosinus confronts and burns Vortgyn alive at a tree-sanctuary of his secret brotherhood near the battlefield. Romulus kills Wulfila with Caesar's sword, avenging his parents. He tells Aurelius that he fought like a dragon, whereupon Aurelius replies that Romulus fought like the son of a dragon.Repulsed by the deaths in the battle, Romulus heaves away his sword which remarkably pierces a large rock and becomes lodged there. Many years later, Ambrosinus, now known as Merlin, takes a young boy to the battlefield to describe the now legendary events. Merlin, who has visibly aged little since the battle, says that Aurelius married Mira and raised Romulus as their own son, and Romulus became a wise ruler and adopted the name "Pendragon". The boy, Arthur, recognizes Romulus as his father.Partial castColin Firth as Aurelius, Roman general protecting the young CaesarThomas Sangster as Romulus Augustus/Uther Pendragon, last emperor of RomeSir Ben Kingsley as Ambrosinus/Merlin, tutor of Caesar, ostensibly a sorcererAishwarya Rai as Mira, Indian warrior serving the Eastern Roman EmpirePeter Mullan as Odoacer, leader of the GothsKevin McKidd as Wulfila, Odoacer's henchmanJohn Hannah as Nestor, Roman senatorOwen Teale as Vatrenus, TribuneRupert Friend as Demetrius, CenturionNonso Anozie as Batiatus, CenturionHarry Van Gorkum as Vortgyn, British warlordRobert Pugh as Constantius, commander of the Ninth Legion James Cosmo as Hrothgar, Wulfila's companionAlexander Siddig as Theodorus Andronikos, representative of the Eastern Roman EmpireMurray McArthur as Tertius, legionary of the Ninth LegionProduction notesThe film's producers include Dino De Laurentiis, Martha, his second wife, and Raffaella, his daughter by his first wife. Raffaella suggested director Doug Lefler due to his work on Dragonheart: A New Beginning, which she produced. Filming took place in Tunisia and Slovakia in 2005.Valerio Massimo Manfredi helped adapt his novel to the screen, also acting as historical consultant. In an interview he states at least four hours of footage was shot but ultimately shortened or cut, including scenes of the heroes' journey through the Alps and the English Channel.For the role of Aurelius, executive producer Harvey Weinstein suggested Colin Firth, known for playing Fitzwilliam Darcy in Pride and Prejudice (1995) and more recently, Mark Darcy in the Bridget Jones films. Firth accepted the role due to the story, which he liked, and that it was very different from previous roles.Thomas Sangster (Romulus) was one of the last to be cast. He had previously worked with Firth in Love Actually (2003) and Nanny McPhee (2006), and their familiarity with each other benefited both.Sir Ben Kingsley was cast as Ambrosinus/Merlin after one meeting with Lefler. Kingsley was drawn to the mystique of the character, whom Lefler describes as a "warrior shaman". Kingsley also found the story interesting.Aishwarya Rai was cast as Mira after the filmmakers decided "somebody that had a rare beauty... who could move very well", in Lefler's words, was ideal for the role. Lefler touted Rai's training in dance as an asset for her fight scenes. Like Firth, Rai took the role as a change of pace from her previous work.The film's costumes were designed by Paolo Scalabrino, who had worked on Gangs of New York and Troy.Lefler wanted each character to have a unique fighting style. Richard Ryan served as the film's sword master, helping him plan the fight scenes; he had worked on Troy and would work on Stardust as such.The film's score was composed by Patrick Doyle. ReceptionAs of September 7, 2007, the film had an average score of 37 out of 100 on Metacritic based on 12 reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes, 16% of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 52 reviews (8 "fresh", 44 "rotten") and the "cream of the crop" rating was 8%.The film departs from the novel in several ways; so much so that its credits state it to be "based in part" on the original.In the novel, Aurelius (called Aurelianus Ambrosius Ventidius) is a low-ranking officer rather than a general, and his original legion, the Nova Invicta, is destroyed much earlier.The novel's "band of heroes" includes three surviving legionaries (Aurelius, Vatrenus and Batiatus), a Venetian warrior woman called Livia Prisca, and two Greek gladiators, Demetrius and Orosius. The film turns Livia into the Indian Mira, and Demetrius and Orosius into legionaries. While Demetrius remains a prominent supporting character, Orosius becomes an uncredited background extra.The film alters the capital of the Western Empire from Ravenna to Rome.The film depicts the coronation of Romulus (and subsequent fall of Rome) as having taken place in 460, while the novel correctly gives the year as 476. Romulus was Emperor for ten months, not a single day as in the film.The "Last Legion" in the novel is a fictional Twelfth Legion (Legio XII Draco), not the Ninth. While the Ninth is called the "Dragon" Legion as in the novel, it was the "Spanish" Legion (Legio IX Hispana) in real life. A Twelfth Legion did exist under different names, but not as Draco.The prophecy concerning Romulus is worded differently in the novel: it speaks of a youth with a sword who will bring peace and prosperity to Britain, and the "eagle and the dragon" flying once more over the land (Manfredi makes these the dying words of the soldier-bishop Germanus, whom he also makes the founder of the Dragon Legion).In the novel, Ambrosinus (full Roman name Meridius Ambrosinus, originally known as Myrdin Emries in Britain, which later becomes Merlin) is a Christian and yet also a Druid. This is left unclear in the film, where he mostly speaks in generic terms of "truth" and "faith"; one exception is when he tells Vortgyn (spelled Wortigern in the novel) to "burn in Hell".The final battle is identified as the Battle of Badon Hill in the novel but not in the film.Historical notesOrestes, who was partly of German blood, was historically the magister militum — the senior officer of the Roman army second to the emperor. He had indeed promised his German foederati a third of Italy to settle in but not to Odoacer personally. Orestes was himself an usurper, having used his power over the foederati to depose the legitimate emperor Julius Nepos and inaugurate his son Romulus Augustus.There was civil strife in the Eastern Roman Empire at the time but the Emperor alluded to would probably have been Zeno (explicit in the novel). The Eastern Emperor eventually neutralised Odoacer when the latter became too popular with the people of Italy.Mira's weapon, the katar, wasn't invented yet. They came into use more than 1000 years later. The Kalarippayattu style of martial arts fighting was that Mira claimed to be expertly trained in was not what was portrayed within the film. This type of fighting style has clear characteristics that would make it very obvious to recognize.A few of the castles and fortified cities in the film have round spires with pointed coned roofs, when in fact this style of buildings was not common until the late Middle Ages.The Emperor Tiberius is referred to as "the last of Julius Caesar's line". Inconsistently, Romulus Augustus is also depicted as the last of Julius Caesar's family line and Tiberius as one of his ancestors. In fact Tiberius was second of the five Julio-Claudian emperors, and was adopted by Augustus, who had himself been adopted by Julius Caesar. Tiberius was thus not the last of any line established by Julius Caesar (Augustus' maternal great-uncle by blood). Moreover, Tiberius is the only emperor of the dynasty who has not any family ties with Caesar (he is a Claudius, not a Julius). Historically, it was Nero, who ruled roughly twenty years after the death of Tiberius, who was the last emperor of the Julio-Claudian Dynasty and thus, technically, the last ruler to be descended from Julius Caesar's family, the Julii. In the film it is implied that Romulus's descent from Caesar's family is through his (unnamed) mother (which is presumably why Orestes cannot be Emperor himself). Historically, nothing is known about Romulus's mother, but the Julii had been extinct for 400 years before Romulus was born. He could only be claimed as 'the last of Julius Caesar's line' by the fact that he was the last (Western) ruler to bear the name 'Caesar', which all Emperors subsequent to Nero adopted as part of their Imperial title.The film uses the premise of the missing Ninth Legion still existing somewhere in Britain at this time, a once popular idea among British Historians. The Ninth Legion disappears from Roman records from about 120 AD, by which time it was no longer serving in Britain. Rather, it is believed to have been destroyed near the Danube frontier during the reign of Marcus Aurelius. Even if the Ninth had gone missing in Britain, it is highly unlikely to have continued its existence as a military force for the three centuries between 160 and 460. At any rate by the late fifth century AD Britain had already long been abandoned by Rome, as the last legions had departed for the Imperial capital from Britain in 410 AD.Romulus's coronation and capture is depicted as taking place in Rome, whereas his historical reign and abdication took place in Ravenna. Connections to Arthurian legendThe movie shows King Arthur as a descendant of the last Roman imperial line. In Le Morte d'Arthur Arthur claims descent from Constantine and is crowned Roman Emperor after defeating its (fictional) ruler, Lucius Tiberius.Aurelius is based on Aurelius Ambrosius, brother of Arthur's father Uther Pendragon. Aurelius and Uther opposed Vortigern. Aurelius is a fictionalized version of the historical war leader Ambrosius Aurelianus, who led the Romano-British against the invading Saxons.In Geoffrey of Monmouth's pseudohistorical work The History of the Kings of Britain (Historia Regum Britanniae), Merlin, originally a figure unconnected with Arthur, is called Merlin Ambrosius after Geoffrey merged legends of Aurelius Ambrosius into the character. Ambrosius becomes Ambrosinus in the film. In the novel, Merlin's original British name Myrdin Emries is directly taken from Welsh versions of the tales.Vortgyn's death by fire in a burning tree shelter/shrine echoes the legendary Vortigern's death, as according to Geoffrey of Monmouth the latter died in his tower when it was set aflame.

Film: The Lost Legion

Roman/Arthurian

Film: Excalibur

ExcaliburOne of the movie's taglines is "Before King Arthur, there was Excalibur". The last shots of the film establish the fictional sword of Caesar as the legendary blade (also the Sword in the Stone, originally a different weapon).The word Excalibur comes from the Old French "Escalibor" which is itself a corruption of Caliburnus or Caliburn. The name Caliburn is often held to be Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latinized form of the original Welsh Caledfwlch or Irish Caladbolg (lit. "hard-belly" or voracious) though others, such as Manfredi, believe it is ultimately derived from Latin chalybs "steel", which is in turn derived from Chalybes, the name of an Anatolian ironworking tribe.The sword bears the inscription CAI • IVL • CAES • ENSIS CALIBVRNVS. "CAI. IVL. CAES." serves as the abbreviated form of Caius (or Gaius) Julius Caesar for the film, though the name is correctly abbreviated as "C. IVLIVS CAESAR". Manfredi loosely translates ensis caliburnus as "sword of steel". Ensis is Latin for "sword". While in reality Geoffrey of Monmouth's Latinization Caliburn eventually developed into the form Excalibur, the film explains the origin of the name Excalibur by having the inscription obscured by moss; the remaining letters spell out E S CALIBVR.Connections to other filmsColin Firth, Aishwarya Rai and Rupert Friend have all appeared in adaptations of the Jane Austen novel Pride & Prejudice. Firth appeared in the BBC miniseries that has been considered the closest adaptation of the work itself, portraying Fitzwilliam Darcy. Rai has appeared in the Bollywood version, Bride and Prejudice, portraying the character based on Elizabeth Bennet. Friend appeared in the 2005 version, where he portrayed Mr. Wickham. Both Kevin McKidd and Ray Stevenson, who starred as the Roman soldiers Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo in the drama series Rome, have gone on to play characters in historical King Arthur film adaptations; McKidd in The Last Legion and Stevenson in King Arthur (2004). Both are set in Britain after the Romans left.Valerio Massimo Manfredi has commented on several similarities between the two films (and his book), such as a band of heroes escorting a boy of special status and a battle set at Hadrian's Wall. In this film Thomas Sangster plays a version of Uther Pendragon. He earlier played another Arthurian character — young Tristan in Tristan & Isolde (2006). http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0462396/http://starsontop.com/aishwarya_rai/last_legion.htmhttp://www.metacritic.com/film/titles/lastlegion

Excalibur

Lady of the Lake

Film: The Sword in the Stone

The Sword in the Stone is a 1963 animated feature film produced by Walt Disney originally released to theaters on December 25, 1963. The eighteenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon, it was the last Disney animated feature released while Walt Disney was still alive.It is part of the 'English Cycle' of animated films, which include Alice in Wonderland, Peter Pan, 101 Dalmatians, The Jungle Book, Winnie the Pooh and Robin Hood.The film is based on the novel The Sword in the Stone, at first published in 1938 as a single novel. It was then later republished in 1958 as the first book of T. H. White’s tetralogy The Once and Future King. From Merlin’s statement that The Times won't come out for another 1200 years ("They can't wait for the London Times. First edition won't be out for at least, uh... 1,200 years."), it may be extrapolated that the film is set circa A.D. 585.The Sword in the Stone follows the future King Arthur’s life during his adolescence and education by the wizard Merlin. The film starts with the introduction of the situation when Uther Pendragon died, leaving England kingless and in no law and order. Then, a miracle, the Sword in the Stone appears in London, proclaiming that whomever pulls it out is the rightful King of England. However, none succeed in removing the sword; believing the miracle had not worked, the sword was forgotten and England returned to the Dark Ages.Some years later, the wizard Merlin predicts to Archimedes, his owl, that a person of some significance would drop in on him later that day. We then see Arthur, a 12-year-old orphan training to be a squire who lives with his foster father Sir Ector and his older foster brother Kay who call him Wart. Wart accidentally falls from a small tree onto Kay, who is trying to shoot a deer. Kay chases after Wart, who volunteers to find the arrow in the wolf-filled forest. One wolf takes an interest in Wart, which acts as comic relief. Wart falls out of a tree and into Merlin's cottage.The two introduce themselves (as well as the ever-indignant Archimedes), and Merlin announces he will be Wart's tutor. Merlin packs up and accompanies Wart back to Sir Ector's castle, who has been worrying about the boy. While first refusing Merlin's offer to tutor Arthur (and does not believe Merlin's claim to wizardry). Merlin creates a "Wizard Blizzard" over Ector, who allows him to stay - and puts Merlin in the rickety and leaky 'Guest Room' tower. Later, Ector's friend Pellinore arrives with news from London. There will be a jousting tournament on New Year's Day, and the winner shall be crowned King of England. Ector immediately proposes that Kay be knighted and compete for the title.For his first lesson, Merlin transforms Wart into a perch and himself into a trout. In the moat, Wart is chased and attacked by a huge pike, while Merlin has been trapped in an old helmet. Wart works to outsmart the beast, but Archimedes flies down and plucks Wart from the pike’s jaws.Wart, having told Ector about the fish lesson, is confined to the kitchen. Merlin arrives to teach Arthur, and magics the dishes into an assembly line. Merlin transforms Wart into a squirrel. Though Wart begins by learning about the principle of gravity, two female squirrels become infatuated with both of them, and the lesson turns into male-female relationships and romantic love. After the girl rescues from Arthur from a wolf (the same one who has been following him throughout the film), Merlin transforms both of them back into humans. While Merlin’s squirrel companion is outraged, Wart’s companion is visibly heartbroken.Meanwhile, the cook has discovered the dishes washing themselves, and calls Ector and Kay to stop the spell, but they are instead pummeled by the scrubbing brushes, mops, etc. Merlin and Wart arrive and Merlin stops his spell, but Ector accuses him of using black magic. Wart defends Merlin, but Ector will not listen, he announces that Kay's squire will be Hobbes (who we do not meet), not Arthur.For his last lesson, Merlin transforms Wart into a sparrow. This time, Archimedes teaches Wart the principles of flight. While Wart is skilled and clearly enjoying it, a hawk attacks, forcing Wart down "The Magnificent Marvelous Mad Madam Mim"'s chimney. Mim is a witch whose magic uses trickery, which she claims is more useful than Merlin's educational wizadry. Wart (still a sparrow) is unconvinced, and Mim decides that she will have to destroy him; she turns into a fat pink cat and chases him around her cottage.Merlin arrives and challenges Madame Mim to a Wizard's Duel (the combatants try to defeat each other by changing themselves into various forms to destroy one another). The rules: Only animal transformations, 'no make-believe things, like pink dragons and stuff', 'no disappearing', and 'no cheating'. The two turn into various animals. Then, Mim loopholes by turning into a large purple dragon. However, Merlin transforms himself into a germ and infects her with a debilitating disease. She is defeated, bedridden and furious. Wart 's lesson is that knowledge is the greatest power.Christmas comes, and Kay is now knighted. Coincidentally, Hobbes has come down with the mumps and Ector reinstates Wart as Kay's squire. Arthur runs to tell Merlin, who is disappointed that Wart still prefers war games to academics. Wart tries to explain that, as an orphan, he cannot become a knight and that a squire is the best position he can attain. Merlin, becomes angry and transports himself to 20th-century Bermuda.Sir Ector, Kay, Arthur and Pellinore (and Archimedes), travel to London for the tournament. As Kay’s turn to fight approaches, Wart realizes that he has forgotten Kay's sword at their inn. Kay yells at him to go get his sword, or not to come back at all. The inn door is locked (everyone is at the tournament). Archimedes notices and points out to Arthur a sword in an anvil on a stone in a churchyard. When he touches the sword, a light streams from heaven. He pulls the sword from the stone, unwittingly fulfilling the sword’s prophecy.Wart returns with the sword and hands it to Kay, but Ector recognises "the Sword in the Stone" and the tournament is halted. Unable to believe that a child succeeded, the crowd demands that Wart prove that he took the sword. The assembled audience follow Sir Ector and Wart to the churchyard and Ector replaces the sword in its anvil. The arrogant Kay and others attempt to pull it out, but it remains immovable. Pellinore and Sir Bart the Black Knight insist that Wart be allowed to try. As Wart pulls the sword from the stone for the second time, the heavenly light shines down again. Sir Bart asks Ector what the boy's name is; Ector says "Wart", quickly correcting it to Arthur. Sir Bart cries "Hail!! King Arthur!!", and the crowd follows suit. Ector (commanding Kay to do the same) then humbly kneels, and asks for forgiveness for his short-temper.Trapped in his throne room by cheering crowds, Wart feels unprepared to be a king. Wart calls out to Merlin for help, who appears (in Bermuda shorts, sunglasses, etc.). Merlin is elated to find that Wart will be the King Arthur that he has seen in the future. Merlin tells the boy that he will rise and lead the Knights of the Round Table. (After making sure he doesn't want a square one instead) He continues to talk about the future, revealing other anachronistic information, including that they'll make a movie about this. Voice castSebastian Cabot: The Narrator/Sir EctorKarl Swenson: MerlinRickie Sorensen, Richard Reitherman and Robert Reitherman: ArthurJunius Matthews: Archimedes the OwlGinny Tyler: Little Girl SquirrelMartha Wentworth: Granny Squirrel/Madame Mim/The Scullery MaidNorman Alden: KayAlan Napier: Sir PellinoreBarbara Jo Allen: Scullery MaidThurl Ravenscroft: Black Bart Songs"The Sword in the Stone" (Sung by Fred Darian) "Higitus Figitus" "That's What Makes the World Go Round" "A Most Befuddling Thing" "Mad Madame Mim" "Blue Oak Tree"ReceptionThe film was a financial success at the box office and was the fifth highest grossing film of 1963. AnimationDisney animators Frank Thomas and Ollie Johnston said that Milt Kahl's animations of Sir Kay and Sir Ector were "the best human figures ever done at the studio." The climactic battle between Merlin and Mad Madam Mim is often cited by animation experts as some of the best character animation to that date. The characters go through numerous physical transformations during battle, yet retain their identifying features; Merlin's guises (tortoise, hare, caterpillar, walrus, mouse, crab, goat and mouse again) are blue and include his glasses and facial hair, while Mim's (alligator, fox, hen, elephant, tiger, rattlesnake, rhino and dragon) are pink and purple and have her messy hair. There are several scenes with animation recycled from other films. The deer Kay tries shooting at with his arrow was copied from Bambi's mother from Bambi. In a scene where Arthur returns home, two dogs jump on him and lick his face, in a scene identical to several wolves jumping on Mowgli in The Jungle Book. When Sir Ector and Kay are in the kitchen fighting against the enchanted dishware, Sir Ector swings his sword backwards and hits Kay on the head. Jasper and Horace in One Hundred and One Dalmatians are animated in the same way during the fight scene with Pongo and Perdita. Some of the animation cells of Arthur walking through the dark forest to find Kay's arrow were later reused in a similar scene in The Black Cauldron. Also, the footage where Wart is affectionately licked by the two castle dogs, Tiger and Talbot, is reused in The Jungle Book four years later. The scene where Arthur is a squirrel jumping from one tree to the next was reused in The Fox and the Hound in 1981.TriviaThis was the first animated feature to have songs written by the Sherman Brothers (music was written by Disney composer George Bruns). The Sword in the Stone is the only production in which Robert and Richard Reitherman appear. They were the sons of director Wolfgang Reitherman and brothers of Bruce Reitherman, the voice of Mowgli and Christopher Robin. Arthur was voiced by three different boys - Rickie Sorensen, Richard Reitherman and Robert Reitherman. The changes in voice are very noticeable in the film because of the way Arthur's voice keeps going from broken to unbroken, sometimes in the same scene. One of the easiest noticed is in the last scene in the throne room when Arthur asks in his "changed voice", "Oh, Archimedes, I wish Merlin was here!" Then, the camera cuts farther back and Arthur shouts in his "unchanged voice," "Merlin! Merlin!" This is Martha Wentworth's final film; she died in 1974. The scene during the Wizard's Duel where Madam Mim turns into a dragon contains musical cues from Sleeping Beauty, more specifically the themes of Maleficent's dragon form. Wart's "Whoa, what, whoa!" sound is repeated seven times in the film.The film's original release was on December 25, Christmas Day.http://www.bcdb.com/bcdb/cartoon.cgi?film=34/

Film: Sword in the Stone

A Legend Begins

Film: Merlin and the War of the Dragons

Merlin and the War of the Dragons is a 2008 fantasy film produced by The Asylum, based loosely on the legends of King Arthur. It was filmed entirely on location in WalesPlotThe film takes place in England sometime after the death of King Arthur. His servant, Merlin (Simon Lloyd Roberts), is still active and now serves under Arthur's successor to the throne, King Vortigern (Hefin Wyn).Soon after Vortigern's coronation, a large army of giant, fire-breathing dragons land in England and begin to terrorise the land, setting fire to buildings and feasting on any who are unable to escape. Due to their size and number, the dragons threaten the very existence of England itself, and Vortigern instructs Merlin to lead an army against the dragons, ordering his best generals - Hengist (Iago McGuire) and Uther (Dylan Jones) - to aid Merlin in any way possible.With the help of Vortigern and his generals, Merlin begins to think of ways to defeat the dragons, who are growing stronger every day whilst England grows weaker. Using magic and knowledge, Merlin devises a plan that will ultimately decide the fate of English history...Main CastNia Ann - Lady NimueCeri Bostock - GwynethCarys Eleri - Lady VivianneRuthie Gwilym - MidwifeWilliam Huw - TormDylan Jones - UtherIago McGuire - HengistJürgen Prochnow - The MageSimon Lloyd Roberts - MerlinJoseph Stacey - VendigerIona Thonger - IngraineHefin Wyn - King Vortigern

Merlin

Sorcery and Wizardry

New Productions this Year

Dragonquest is an upcoming fantasy film produced by The Asylum, and the first fantasy film by the company since Merlin and the War of the Dragons in 2008OverviewThe film takes place in a Medieval-type world, where Sorcery is commonplace. One such sorcerer unleashes an unspeakable evil upon the world that is seemingly unstoppable, leaving it to a handful of brave vigilantes to face the wrath of the sorcerer and save the kingdom. ProductionAccording to The Asylum's official website, Dragonquest will be released on March 31, 2009 and - like the majority of Asylum productions - will be a direct-to-DVD release.

Merlin is a British television drama series that began in 2008. It is based on the Arthurian legends of the mythical wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur, though differs significantly from more traditional versions of the myth. Produced by independent production company Shine Limited for BBC One, the programme is designed to run in the same Saturday evening family drama slot as series such as Doctor Who and Robin Hood.The show has been commissioned for a second seriesProductionThe idea for the programme was conceived by Shine producers Julian Murphy and Johnny Caps, who had previously worked together on Hex, a fantasy series produced by Shine for Sky One. The BBC had been keen on showing a drama based on the character of Merlin for some time; a little over a year before the Shine series was initiated, writer and producer Chris Chibnall had been developing a project aimed at a BBC One Sunday night slot, but this was ultimately not commissioned.The Shine version of the project was put into development in late 2006, commissioned by Controller of BBC One Peter Fincham and BBC Head of Fiction Jane Tranter, with Fincham keen on having more series on his channel which embodied: "Three generation TV – that's TV you can watch with your grandparents and children. There's not enough of that about."The series went into production in March 2008, with filming taking place in Wales and France (at the Château de Pierrefonds). The series was produced by Shine in association with BBC Wales, whose Head of Drama Julie Gardner served as executive producer for the BBC. Gardner had extensive experience of working on the BBC's Doctor Who, and claimed that show's chief writer Russell T Davies had been an important influence on the tone and style of Merlin. CGI special effects for the series were provided by The Mill, which had also worked on Doctor Who and its spin-offs. Consisting of an initial series of 13 episodes, Merlin began transmission in the UK on 20 September 2008. In advance of this, a special trailer was prepared for release on television, in cinemas and online.On December 13 2008, the BBC announced that it had re-commissioned Merlin for a second series, which begins filming in 2009. TaglineThe tag line that the BBC has used for the show is "Keep the magic secret", owing to the secrecy that surrounds Merlin's magical abilities in the television series.Cast and crew The regular cast of Merlin. Uther, Arthur, Merlin, Gaius, Morgana, Guinevere.Main charactersColin Morgan as Merlin: The series protagonist, a young, remarkably talented sorcerer who attempts to keep his powers secret and will one day become the greatest wizard in the world. He is also Arthur's friend, despite the initial animosity between the two. Bradley James as Prince Arthur: the headstrong, arrogant and reckless but kind and benevolent son of King Uther, and future King of Camelot. He is friends with Merlin, and the pair have saved one another's lives on numerous occasions. Richard Wilson as Gaius: Camelot's court physician and one of the few who know Merlin's secret. Gaius used to be a sorcerer himself, and is something of an alchemist and magical scholar. He has a dry sense of humour and sees Merlin as the son he never had. Anthony Head as Uther Pendragon: Arthur's father and current king of Camelot. Uther is depicted as a ruthless and sometimes cruel man, but he cares deeply about his subjects and friends. However, he is frequently blinded by his hatred for all forms of magic. Angel Coulby as Guinevere (Gwen): Morgana's humble maid servant, and her friend. She has an open, friendly personality but is occasionally antagonistic with Arthur. Katie McGrath as Morgana: King Uther's ward and the daughter of his late best friend. Morgana is best friends with Gwen despite their class differences and is also secretly a "seer" - a person who has prophetic powers. John Hurt as the voice of the The Great Dragon: Merlin often visits the Dragon when in a predicament, because the Dragon knows what Merlin is destined for. The Dragon is also one of the few who know his secret. The Dragon appears omniscient at times, and his motivations are unknown beyond his desire to be released from the dungeons of Camelot. Michelle Ryan as Nimueh: The main antagonist of the first series, Nimueh is here portrayed as a beautiful, powerful, but amoral sorceress, bent on overthrowing Uther and Arthur and restoring magic to Camelot.Guest appearancesEve Myles as Mary Collins / Lady Helen ("The Dragon's Call") Caroline Faber as Hunith ("The Dragon's Call", "The Moment of Truth" and "Le Morte d'Arthur")Will Mellor as Valiant ("Valiant")Santiago Cabrera as Lancelot ("Lancelot")Asa Butterfield as Mordred ("The Beginning of the End") Julian Rhind-Tutt as Edwin Muirden ("A Remedy to Cure All Ills")Kyle Redmond-Jones as Sir Owain ("Excalibur")Alexander Siddig as Kanan ("The Moment of Truth")Joe Dempsie as William ("The Moment of Truth")Directors working on the first series include James Hawes, Ed Fraiman, Jeremy Webb, David Moore, and Stuart Orme. PlotMerlin arrives at the city of Camelot, where the king, Uther Pendragon, has outlawed magic and imprisoned the last dragon. Merlin, who was born with extraordinary magical powers, is taken as the apprentice of Gaius. Merlin later discovers, after being informed by the last dragon, who is held as a prisoner deep under the city, that he has an important destiny in protecting Uther's arrogant son, Arthur, so that he may grow up to found a great kingdom.The era in which the series is set is ambiguous; traditionally the Arthurian legends are set in the dark ages, and the idea of King Uther reigning over a small kingdom (which is present in both traditional legend and the television series) sets it before the union of England in 927. Despite this, the castle interiors are 15th century, making the series' setting inconsistent with English history. Britain is never mentioned, though the dragon has used the name Albion, which is the oldest known name for Great Britain.The television series deviates significantly from more traditional versions of the legend, such as those written by Geoffrey of Monmouth and Thomas Malory. For instance, in the original myth, it is Arthur who builds Camelot, whereas in this series it pre-dates Arthur's father Uther. Another key difference is that in the television series, Arthur and Merlin are of approximately the same age, whereas in traditional myth, Merlin is much older, and acts as Arthur's tutor. This kind of relationship is played out between Gaius and Merlin. Morgana, normally shown as an evil sorceress, is here a kind and caring woman.Other characters from Arthurian legend have appeared. Lancelot was portrayed as a commoner who longed to become a knight. Mordred has been shown as a young Druid boy who formed a bond with Morgana (in some legends Mordred's mother) and who was prophesied by the Great Dragon to be the cause of death of Arthur (in the legend this occurred at the Battle of Camlann). Mordred and the Great Dragon referred to Merlin by his Druidic name, Emrys (the Welsh form of Ambrosius; Ambrosius Aurelianus was a historical figure whom Geoffrey of Monmouth partially merged with Merlin). Geoffrey of Monmouth himself has appeared as the court genealogist.BroadcastIn April 2008, American broadcast rights were purchased by NBC. The distributor, FremantleMedia Enterprises, also sold broadcast rights toCTV in Canada,Network Ten in Australia,RTL in Germany,Canal+ in France, M-Net in South Africa, and MICO in Japan.In Italy, Italia 1 began broadcasting the series on Monday 15 December 2008 at 21:10.While in Malaysia, TV3 airs this series every Sunday, 9.00 pm, starting from the 25 January 2009.In Norway, TV2 began airing the series 18 January 2009 every Sunday at 8:00 pm. Merlin is also aired in the Swedish public broadcasting context on Sundays at 6.45 pm as well as on demand through the web.Country TV Network(s) Series Premiere Weekly Schedule (local time)Netherlands Nederland 3 28 March 2009 Saturday, 7:20 pm Italy Italia 1 15 December 2008 Tuesdays, 10:10 pmMalaysia Hallmark Channel 1 March 2009 Tuesdays, 9:00 pmNorway TV2 18 January 2009 Sundays, 8:00 pmPoland Polsat 7 March 2009 Saturdays, 5:15 pm Sweden SVT1SVT2 (replays) 18 January 2009 Sundays, 6:45 pmMondays, 10:30 pmUnited Kingdom BBC One 20 September 2008 Saturdays, 7:30 pm United States NBC 21 June 2009 Sundays, 8:00 pm RatingsThe series première drew an overnight average of 6.65m (30%) viewers in the 19:30 slot (and a final consolidated figure of 7.15 million) despite being scheduled against popular ITV series The X Factor. The series as a whole had an average of 6.32 million viewers, which is fewer than Doctor Who attracted during its first series, and slightly more than those received by Robin Hood. Merlin was the fifth most watched programme on BBC iPlayer in 2008.http://www.bbc.co.uk/merlin/http://www.tv.com/show/75429/summary.htmlhttp://www.imdb.com/title/tt1199099/

BBC: Merlin

mini series

Parzival

Journey to the Grail Castle

Percival

The Temptation of Percival

Bedivere

Returning Excaliber

Enid

In the Garden

Lionesse

A Lady in Waiting

Mordred

Final Battle

Uther Pendragon

Cornwall

Bors and Lionel

Which shall I save?

Tristran and Isueld

My love

Book Shelf

Books About Arthur

Arthurian Book list

9thcenturyHistoria Britonum attributed to Nennius10th centuryAnnales Cambriae Anonymous Preiddeu Annwfn attributed to Taliesin11th centuryWelshCulhwch and Olwen AnonymousThe Legend of St. Goeznovius circa 1019 (Mentions Arthur and Vortigern)12th centuryLatinVita Sancti Cadoc by Lifris circa 1061-1104 (Mentions Arthur and Cai)Vita Sancti Carannog circa 1100 (Mentions Arthur)Vita Sancti Euflami circa 1100 (Mentions Arthur)Vita Sancti Paternus circa 1120s (Mentions Arthur and Caradoc)Gesta Regnum Anglorum by William of Malmesbury 1125 (Mentions Arthur)Historia Anglorum by Henry of Huntingdon 1129 (Mentions Arthur)Vita Santi Gildae by Caradoc of Llancarfan. A life of Saint Gildas the Wise, with an early version of Malegant-Guenivere abduction narrative. circa 1120-1130Works of Geoffrey of Monmouth Historia Regum Britanniae circa 1136-8Vita Merlini circa 1140Life of Saint Kentigern circa 1185 (Contains a version of the Merlin legend, here called Lailoken)Vita Sancti Illtud circa 1190s (Mentions Arthur and King Mark)French and Anglo-NormanRoman de Brut by Wace circa 1155 (an Anglo-Norman verse reworking of Historia Regum Brittania)Tristan by Thomas of Britain circa 1170sTristan by Béroul circa 1170sThe Lais of Marie de France circa 1170sLanval Chevrefoil circa 1170s, an episode of the Tristan and Iseult storyThe poems of Chrétien de TroyesErec and Enide circa 1170sCligés circa 1170sYvain, the Knight of the Lion circa 1180sLancelot, the Knight of the Cart circa 1180sPerceval, le Conte du Graal circa 1190Tristan mentioned but non-extantThe poems of Robert de BoronJoseph d'Arimathie Merlin Perceval (Robert de Borons verse Josepheh of Arimathie and 300 lines of Merlin are extant. A prose version of Joseph d'Arimathie, Merlin, Perzival trilogy, supposedly by Robert exists in two MSS.)GermanTristan by Eilhart von Oberge circa 1170sLanzelet by Ulrich von Zatzikhoven late 12th century (a rendering of a lost French tale of Lancelot that likely predates Chrétien de Troyes's famous Lancelot or the Knight of the Cart.Ulrich von Zatzikhoven obtained a copy of the original book in 1194 and translated the work from French into German.)Erec and Iwein by Hartmann von Aue late 12th century (German reworking of Chrétien de Troyes's Yvain, the Knight of the Lion and Erec and Enide13th century French, Anglo-Norman or ProvincialRoman de Fergus by Guillaume le Clerc 1190s/1200sJaufré AnonymousLancelot-Grail Anonymous (begun 1210s, finished 1230s) Estoire del SaintGrail Estoire de MerlinLancelot propreQueste del SaintGraal Mort ArtuPerlesvaus Anonymous, circa 1210sProse Tristan by "Luce de Gat" (1230s) and "Helie de Boron" (circa 1240)Roman de Silence by Heldrius de Cornwall circa 1260sPost-Vulgate Cycle Anonymous (begun 1230s, finished 1240s) Roman de Roi Artus by Rustichello da Pisa; Franco-Italian, circa 1290s -1300GermanTristan by Gottfried von Strassburg circa 1210sParzival by Wolfram von Eschenbach circa 1210sDaniel von Blumenthal by Stricker circa 1220Diu Crône Anonymous Garel by Pleier, circa 1230sNorseTristrams saga ok Ísöndar by Brother Robert 1226 (Norse reworking Tristan by Thomas of Britain)Ivens Saga by Brother Robert 1226 (Norse reworking of Chrétien de Troyes' Yvain, the Knight of the Lion)Erex Saga, perhaps originally by Robert. (Text probably changed in MS. transmission. A Norse reworking of Chrétien's Erec and Enide)EnglishBrut by Layamon (English reworking of Geoffrey of Monmouth)Sir Tristrem circa 1300 (English reworking of Tristan by Thomas of Britain)DutchThe Lancelot-Compilatie, an adaptation of the Lancelot-Grail, but including several other romances as well: Morien, AnonymousTorec, by Jacob van MaerlantHebrewMelech Artu A Hebrew reworking of the Historia Regum Brittanie14th centuryEnglishAlliterative Morte Arthure AnonymousStanzic Morte Arthure AnonymousThe Avowyng of ArthurThe Wedding of Sir Gawain and Dame Ragnelle Anonymous The Awntyrs off Arthure AnonymousSir Gawain and the Green Knight by The Pearl PoetSir Launfal by Thomas ChestreSir Libeaus Desconus Ywain and GawainSir Perceval of Galles Lancelot of the LaikWelsh(All dates for the Welsh compositions are controversial)Mabinogion AnonymousCulhwch and Olwen (recorded)The Dream of RhonabwyThe Welsh Romances Owain, or the Lady of the Fountain Geraint and EnidPeredur, son of EfrawgItalianTavola Rotonda AnonymousFrenchPerceforest AnonymousGreekPresbys Hippotes (Greek reworking of part of Rustichello da Pisa's Compilations15th centuryEnglishArthur Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas MaloryProse Merlin "King Arthur and King Cornwall" Sir Gawain and the Carle of CarlisleItalianOrlando Innamorato by M. Boiardo16th centuryEnglishArthur of Little Britain The Greene Knight circa 1500The Knightly Tale of Gologras and Gawain 1508The Jeaste of Sir GawainThe Misfortunes of Arthur by Thomas Hughes 1587The Faerie Queene by Edmund Spenser 1590WelshTristan Romance, preserved in fragmentary form in several MSS.Byelo-RussianPovest Trychane 1560s17th centuryEnglishThe Birth of Merlin, or, The Childe Hath Found His Father by William Rowley (?1620; first published 1662)Works of Richard Blackmore Prince Arthur: An Heroick Poem in Ten Books (1695)King Arthur: An Heroick Poem in Twelve Books (1697)YiddishWidwilt (Yiddish reworking of Le Bel Inconnu)18th centuryWarton, Thomas (1728-1790) "The Grave of King Arthur" (1777)"On King Arthur's Round-table at Winchester" (1777) Vortigern, An Historical Tragedy by W. H. Ireland (1799) (A Shakespearian forgery)19th centuryThe Lady of Shalott by Alfred, Lord TennysonIdylls of the King by Alfred, Lord TennysonTristram of Lyonesse by Algernon Charles SwinburneA Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain20th centuryKing Arthur and his Knights by Maude RadfordArthur Rex: A Legendary Novel by Thomas Berger Howard Pyle - In a four volume set including: "The Story of King Arthur and His Knights" (1903) "The Story of the Champions of the Round Table" (1905) "The Story of Sir Launcelot and His Companions" (1907) "The Story of the Grail and the Passing of King Arthur" (1910)War in Heaven (1930) by Charles W. S. Williams, a "modern-day" (20th century) quest for the Holy GrailTaliessin through Logres (1938) and The Region of the Summer Stars (1944) by Charles W. S. Williams (poem cycles). The Once and Future King by T. H. White including The Sword and the Stone (1938) The Queen of Air and Darkness (or, The Witch in the Wood) (1939) The Ill-Made Knight (1940) The Candle in the Wind (1958)The Book of Merlyn (1958) That Hideous Strength (1945) by C. S. LewisThe Acts of King Arthur and His Noble Knights by John SteinbeckThe Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer BradleyThe Road to Avalon by Joan WolfThe Child Queen, The High Queen, (collected in Queen of Camelot), Prince of Dreams, and The Grail Prince by Nancy McKenzieHallowed Isle by Diana L. PaxsonSword at Sunset by Rosemary Sutcliff Also The Sword and the Circle'Mordred's Curse and Merlin's Gift by Ian McDowellI am Mordred and I am Morgan le Fay by Nancy Springer The Guenevere novels by Rosalind Miles Guenevere, Queen of the Summer Country, The Knight of the Sacred Lake, Child of the Holy GrailKnight Life, One Knight Only and Fall of Knight by Peter DavidThe Merlin series by Mary Stewart The Crystal Cave, The Hollow Hills, The Last Enchantment, The Wicked Day.The Arthor series by A. A. Attanasio The Dragon and the Unicorn, The Eagle and the Sword, The Wolf and the Crown, The Serpent and the Grail.The Warlord Chronicles by Bernard Cornwell The Winter King Enemy of GodExcalibur By Jane Yolen: Sword of the Rightful KingThe Young Merlin Trilogy By Gerald Morris: The Squire's Tale, The Squire, His Knight, and His Lady, The Savage Damsel and the Dwarf Parsifal's Page, The Ballad of Sir Dinadan, The Princess, the Crone, and the Dung-Cart Knight The Lioness and her Knight.The Quest for the Great Unknown By Molly Cochran and Warren MurphyThe Forever King The Broken Sword The Third Magic The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen LawheadTaliesen, Merlin Arthur Pendragon Grail Avalon By AnonymousKing Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (Illustrated Junior Library, Deluxe edition, September 1, 1950) By Roger Lancelyn Green and Lotte Reiniger (Illustrator)King Arthur and His Knights of the Round Table (Puffin Classics, Reissue edition March 1, 1995) By Parke Godwin Firelord (1980) Beloved Exile (1984) The Last Rainbow (1985)The Tales of Arthur, books of The Keltiad, by Patricia Kennealy-Morrison The Hawk's Grey Feather (1991) The Oak Above the Kings (1994) The Hedge of Mist (1996)A Dream of Eagles (Camulod Chronicles) by Jack WhyteThe Sky Stone (1992) The Singing Sword (1993) The Eagles' Brood (1994) The Saxon Shore (1998)The Sorcerer Part 1: The Fort at River's Bend (1997)The Sorcerer Part 2: The Sorcerer: Metamorphosis (1999) Uther (2001) The Lance Thrower (2004) The Eagle (2006) The King Awakes and The Empty Throne by Janice Elliott, set in a Medieval-style society several generations after a nuclear war. Both novels deal with the return of King Arthur and his friendship with a youth from the post-holocaust worldMerlin's Bones by Fred SaberhagenIdylls of the Queen by Phyllis Ann KarrEagle in the Snow by Wallace Breem; the coming of Arthur is foreseen by the chief of Segontium in the last page of the book The Winter Prince by Elizabeth WeinThe Pendragon (1978) by Catherine ChristianThe Dragon Lord by David DrakeMerlin's Mirror (1975) by Andre NortonThe Return of Merlin (1995) by Deepak ChopraArthur, King by Dennis Lee Anderson (Arthur visits the 20th century and fights in the Battle of Britain)Camelot 3000, a comic book series that reincarnates Arthur and his knights in the far futureThe Fionavar Tapestry, a fantasy trilogy by Canadian author Guy Gavriel KayThe Merlin Mystery, A puzzlehunt book which focused heavily on Merlin and Nimue having a love after Arthur has been entomed; it offered a cash prize as well as a gold, silver, bronze and crystal wand. However, the puzzle went unsolved and the prize unclaimed.21st centuryAvalon High by Meg CabotCorbenic by Catherine Fisher (2002)The House of Pendragon I: The Firebrand by Debra A. Kemp (2003)The House of Pendragon II: The Recruit by Debra A. Kemp (2007)Sydney Wakefield: Into the Faraway by Kimberly J. Smith The Arthur Trilogy by Kevin Crossley-Holland.Here Lies Arthur by Philip ReeveThe Tales of King Arthur by Daniel Randall & Ronne Randall Eye of the Oracle by Bryan Davis (2006)King Arthur and his Ribald Knights by Art Banta (2006)Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell (2007)The Sangreal Trilogy by Amanda HemingwayThe Mystic Rose - Celtic Fire by Toney Brooks (2001)The Book Of Mordred By Vivian Vande VeldeDracula vs. King Arthur By Adam Beranek, Christian Beranek and Chris Moreno (2007)Sword of Darkness by Kinley MacGregorKnight of Darkness by [http://www.kinleymacgregor.com Kinley MacGregor Sons of Avalon: Merlin's Prophecy by Dee Marie (2008)NonfictionArthur's Britain by Leslie AlcockThe Return From Avalon by Raymond H. ThompsonThe Quest for Arthur's Britain by Geoffrey AsheThe Medieval Quest for Arthur by Robert Rouse and Cory RushtonKing Arthur - The True Story by Graham Phillips and Martin KeatmanPendragon The Origins of Arthur by Steve Blake and Scott LloydNon-fiction and research (Arthurian Booklist)Bulletin of Bibliography" (July-Sept. 1981, 38(3):128-138,149).Contains an Arthurian bibliography.Modern Language Association of America. Arthurian Group. A bibliography of Arthurian critical literature (v.1-2; 1922/29-1930/35,New York).

Arthurian Books: Welsh Literature and Mythical People

Welsh LiteratureArthur and the Soverignty of Britain: King and Goddess in the Mabinogion by Caitlin Matthews.The Arthur of the Welsh: The Arthurian Legend in Medieval Welsh Literature ed. by R. Bromwich, A.O.H. Jarman and B.F. Roberts, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1991.Celtic Folklore Welsh and Manx by John Rhys.Celtic Heritage: Ancient Tradition in Ireland and Wales by Rees, Alwyn and Brinley Thames and Hudson, 1961; repr. 1989.Lectures on Early Welsh Poetry by I. Williams, Dublin, 1944.The Mabinogeon by Jeffery Gantz, Peguin.The Mabinogi by Proinsias Mac Cana, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1992.The Mabinogi and Other Medieval Welsh Tales trans. by Patrick K. Ford, Berkeley: University of California Press, 1977, isbn 0-520-03414-7.The Mabinogion by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones, Everyman's Library, 1949;revised in 1989, 1991.The Mabinogion by Jeffrey Gantz, Penguin.Mabon and the Mysteries of Britain: An Exploration of the Mabinogion by Caitlin Matthews.Trioedd Ynys Prydein: The Welsh Triads by Rachel Bromwich, University of Wales Press: Cardiff, 1978; Second edition 1991.Wales and the Arthurian Legend by Roger Sherman Loomis, University of Wales Press, Cardiff, 1956; reprint The Folcraft Press, Pennsylvania, 1969.

Mythical PersonsThe 21 Lessons of Merlyn by Douglas Monroe, Llewellyn.The Age of Arthur by John Morris, Phillimore.Arianrhod - A Welsh Myth Retold by Barbara Donley, Stone Circle Press, Box 44 Oakland, CA 94604, 1987, ISBN 0-9618699-1-7.Arthur: The King of Light by Allen Artos.Arthur the King by Graeme Fife.Arthur's Britain by Leslie Alcock, Pelican.The Arthurian Encyclopedia ed. by Norris Lacy.The Arthurian Handbook ed. by Norris Lacy and Geoffrey Ashe.Critical Studies of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by Donald R. Howard and Christian K. Zacher, 1968.Gawain: Knight of the Goddess by John Matthews, Aquarian/Thorsons (An Imprint of Harper Collins Publishers), London, 1992, isbn 1-85538-172-9.The Grail Legend by Emma Jung and Marie-Louise Franz.In Search of Herne the Hunter by Eric L. Fitch.King Arthur: Chivalry and Legend by Anne Berthelot.King Arthur: The True Story by Phillips and Keatman, Random Century Books.King Arthur and the Grail by Richard Cavendish, Paladin, London, 1980.The King in the West by R.W. Dunning.Ladies of the Lake by John Matthews and Caitlin Matthews.a lettre du Prjtre Jean, Itude critique de la confection, de la diffusion et de l9utilisation d9un faux dans l9Europe midiivale by Marie Paule Caire-Jabinet, PhD Thesis, University of Paris I, 1984.Le Morte d'Arthur by Sir Thomas Mallory.The Mystic Life of Merlin by R.J. Stewart, Arkana/Penquin 1986.Ossian by Macpherson.Perceval by Chretien de Troyes.The Quest for King Arthur by David Day.A Reading of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight by J. A. Burrow, 1965.The Search for King Arthur by Christopher Hibbert, 1969.The Secret History of Arthurian Legend by Gareth Knight, Aquarian Press, 1983.Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, A Stylistic and Metrical Study by M. Boroff, 1962.Taliesin: Shamanism and the Bardic Mysteries in Britain and Ireland by John Matthews, The Aquarian Press, London, 1991, isbn 1-85538-109-5.The Tristan Legend by J. Hill, 1977.Vita Merlini by John Jay Parry, University of Illinois, 1995.The Way of Merlin by R.J. StewartWomen in Celtic Myth: Tales of Extraordinary Women from the Ancient Celtic Tradition by Moyra Caldecott, Destiny Books, Rochester, Vermont, 1992, isbn 0-89281-357-1.Women of the Celts by Jean Markale.

The Sword in the Stone

The journey to knigship

Human Nature: Guinevere's Choice

book

Pre-Raphaelite Books

Books of poetry by William Morris :

Book DescriptionThe multifaceted achievement of English Victorian designer William Morris (1834-1896) is scrutinized in this ravishing catalogue of a centenary exhibition at London's Victoria and Albert Museum. Parry, a curator at the museum, opens with a useful biographical sketch. Next, Morris biographer Fiona MacCarthy explores how the Arts and Crafts pioneer's belief in visual harmony as a basic human function informed his work in embroidery, furniture, domestic decoration, stained glass, painting, wallpapers, engravings, illumination and calligraphy, tapestry, textiles areas discussed in greater depth in subsequent essays by British and American design historians and curators. Other selections succinctly examine Morris's activities as writer of stories, poems and prose romances, socialist proselytizer, shrewd businessman, conservationist. The closing section presents three contrasting views of Morris: an overrated inspired amateur; an eclectic humanist, forerunner of postmodernism; a pioneer who ironically inspired both left-wing internationalists and ethnic nationalists seeking a vernacular. Featuring 394 color and 161 black-and-white illustrations, this album will thrill Morris devotees. BOMC selection. Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Guinevere’s Choice: Journal Human: NaturePublisher: Springer New York ISSN 1045-6767 (Print) 1936-4776 (Online) Issue Volume 6, Number 2 / June, 1995 DOI 10.1007/BF02734176 Pages 145-163 Subject Collection Humanities, Social Sciences and LawAbstract This paper examines four retellings of the Arthurian legend of Guinevere and Lancelot from a bio-evolutionary perspective. The historical and social conditions which provide contexts for the retellings are described, and those conditions are related to underlying male and female reproductive strategies. Since the authors of the selected texts, Chrétien de Troyes, Thomas Malory, Alfred Lord Tennyson, and William Morris, are all male, the assumption is made that these versions of the legend reflect male reproductive preoccupations and encode male attitudes toward femaleness in general and toward female adultery in particular.Five Arthurian Poems (1902 Elston Press, NY) - 178 william Morris

The pre-Raphaelite body By J. B. BullenFrom Scythia to Camelot By C. Scott Littleton, Linda A. MalcorThis volume boldly proposes that the core of the Arthurian and Holy Grail traditions derived not from Celtic mythology, but rather from the folklore of the peoples of ancient Scythia (what are now the South Russian and Ukrainian steppes).From Scythia to Camelot: a radical reassessment of the legends of King Arthur, the Knights of the Round Table, and the Holy GrailEdition: revised, illustratedPublished by Taylor & Francis, 2000ISBN 0815335660, 9780815335665388 pagesSword in the Stone Chapter 6

The return of King Arthur By Beverly Taylor, Elisabeth BrewerThe revival of interest in Arthurian legend in the 19th century was a remarkable phenomenon, apparently at odds with the spirit of the age. Tennyson was widely criticised for his choice of a medieval topic; yet The Idylls of the Kingwere accepted as the national epic, and a flood of lesser works was inspired by them, on both sides of the Atlantic. Elisabeth Brewer and Beverly Taylor survey the course of Arthurian literature from 1800 to the present day, and give an account of all the major English and American contributions. Some of the works are well-known, but there are also a host of names which will be new to most readers, and some surprises, such as J. Comyns Carr's King Arthur, rightly ignored as a text, but a piece oftheatrical history, for Sir Henry Irving played King Arthur, Ellen Terry was Guinevere, Arthur Sullivan wrote the music, and Burne-Jones designed the sets. The Arthurian works of the Pre-Raphaelites are discussed at length, as are the poemsof Edward Arlington Robinson, John Masefield and Charles Williams. Other writers have used the legends as part of a wider cultural consciousness: The Waste Land, David Jones's In Parenthesis and The Anathemata, and the echoes ofTristan and Iseult in Finnigan's Wake are discussed in this context. Novels on Arthurian themes are given their due place, from the satirical scenes of Thomas Love Peacock's The Misfortunes of Elphin and Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee at King Arthur's Court to T.H. White's serio-comic The Once and Future King and the many recent novelists who have turned away from the chivalric Arthur to depict him as a Dark Age ruler. The Return of King Arthurincludes a bibliography of British and American creative writing relating to the Arthurian legends from 1800 to the present day.The return of King Arthur: British and American Arthurian literature since 1900 [i.e. 1800]Published by Boydell & Brewer Ltd, 1983ISBN 0859911365, 9780859911368382 pages

HIT befel in the dayes of Uther Pendragon, when he was kynge of all Englond and so regned, that there was a myghty duke in Cornewaill that helde warre ageynst hym long tyme, and die duke was called the duke of Tyntagil.‎ - Page 38

Sovereign fantasies By Patricia InghamThese contestations and complications emerge in exactly those aspects of the tales usually read asfantasy-for example, in the narratives of Arthur's losses, in the prophecies

Malory's Grail seekers and fifteenth-century English hagiography By KraemerLooks to popular 15th-century English saints' lives to unravel the riddle of whether the Grail Quest in Malory's Morte Darther should be read as a chivalric romance or as a theological treatise like its source, the French Queste. He finds the story to be very much like the saints' lives by Lydgate, Capgrave, and Bokenham, who shared a readership with Malory.Published by P. Lang, 1999Original from the University of MichiganDigitized 11 Mar 2008ISBN 0820441236, 9780820441238129 pages

Kitchen Knights in Medieval French and English Narrative: Rainouart, Lancelot, Gareth by S Gordon - LIT: Literature Interpretation Theory, 2005 - Routledge, part of the Taylor & Francis Group

Love, Freedom, and Marital Fidelity in Malory’s Morte DArthur by B Kennedy - Florilegium - uwo.caA few lines later, the Franklin pauses to reflect upon the paradox at the heart of the lovers’ marriage: Arveragus, who was Dorigen’s servant in love, is now also her lord in marriage, whereas she, who was his lady in love, is ...

Rape and Ravishment in MedievalPage 234 I: Sir Thomas Malory No consideration of rape in the Morte Darthur could ignore the fact that the author, if, as seems fairly certain, he can be identified ...

About the Group

We are a friendly group affiliated to the Bernard Cornwell Group on Shelfari a book reading site for all book lovers. Here we are adding background, maps, pictures and all to do with the books we are reading in Old English, Middle English,Icelandic Sagas,Myths and Legends etc

Return of King Arthur by Beverly Taylor and Elizabeth Brewer

Stained Glass Window: Arthur

Marmesbury Abbey: Arthurian Characters

A Morris & Co. stained glass window to a design by Edward Burne-Jones installed in Malmesbury Abbey. The window shows characteristic themes based on Arthurian legends

Stanmore Hall Tapestries: Wiiliam Morris

Holy Grail: Shields, Verdure and Deer

William Morris: Arthurian Tapestries at Stanmore Hall

William Morris and the Holy Grail TapestriesOne of the most significant tapestries woven in the nineteenth century are those of the Holy Grail Series by William Morris. Originally commissioned by an Australian mining engineer, William Knox D’Arcy, the tapestries formed part of a larger decoration for his dining room at Stanmore Hall. They represent the peak of Morris’ career and are one of the most significant works to emerge from the Arts and Crafts Movement.Portraying a legendThe designers of the six tapestries decided to create six panels that would complement high walls and windows, each panel telling different episodes of the Holy Grail story and with a second verdure section underneath decorated with flowers and telling the story of the picture above. The designers, Henry Dearle, Morris and Burne-Jones aimed to ensure maximum impact by deciding the pictorial tapestries would hang just below the ceiling moulding. The verdure would be displayed from the lower wall with shields of the various knights decorating the dado. Burne-Jones designed six panels taken from the Arthurian legend with the entire commission taking five years to complete. Dearle worked on the verdure with Morris designing the heraldry. Thomas Malory’s poem, The Morte D’Arthur was the original inspiration for the panels and the legend is told through this detailed and exquisite tapestry. The Holy Grail is thought to be the cup from which Christ drank at the Last Supper and the one used following the Crucifixion to receive his blood. It was said to have been hidden for centuries, having been brought to Britain by Joseph of Arimathea and was the principal quest for the Knights of the Round Table. The first panel shows the Knights Being Summoned to the Round Table by a Strange Damsel, and dining with the King who is summoning them to the quest for the Holy Grail. To the left of the picture is the Siege Perilous; a chair draped with an inscribed cloth, reading 'Four hundred winters and four and fifty accomplished after the passion of our Lord Jesus Christ ought this siege to be fulfilled.' King Arthur is seated to the right of the chair, and in front of it is Sir Lancelot, with his hand raised.In the Arming and Departure of the Knights ladies are shown assisting the knights in preparations to leave. Guinevere is shown symbolically handing Lancelot his shield as it is their affair and the subsequent betrayal of Arthur that leads to Lancelot’s failure. Lancelot is again shown in the third panel failing to enter the Chapel of the Holy Grail. His way is barred by an angel as he is seen sleeping outside the entrance. The Failure of Sir Gawain is portrayed in a similar yet different way with an angelic figure preventing him from accessing the Chapel of the Holy Grail and a brilliant light is seen shining behind the door teasing with mystery and intrigue as to what lies beyond in an unknown world. A smaller panel known as The Ship signifies the action moving from one land to another and to the Isle of Sarras where the Attainment or the last panel showing the Holy Grail takes place. Here Sir Galahad is kneeling before the Holy Grail with the other successful knights.Classical and timeless inspirationVictorians were fascinated with the story of King Arthur and the legend found itself woven into poetry by Tennyson with the publication of Morte D’Arthur in 1842. Arthurian legend exuded chivalric values and romantic tales, values to which may early and mid Victorians aspired. Morris and Burne-Jones first read Malory’s work on the Morte D’Arthur at Oxford as undergraduates and became entranced by the way in which it pierced their souls and influenced their work. "Nothing," Burne-Jones wrote, "was ever like Morte d'Arthur - I don't mean any book or any one poem - something that can never be written, I mean, and can never go out of the heart." At that time the majority of interpretation given to Arthurian legend in the arts was literary. When the Holy Grail tapestries were created they provided the inspiration for many other artists and designers. These included Charles Rennie Macintosh and M. H. Baillie Scott who went on to produce furniture similar to that in the first tapestry panel where the Knights have been summoned.The Holy Grail Tapestries, like the Arthurian legends and William Morris are embedded in the culture and tradition of Britain and will always have a classical and timeless appeal as they give further inspiration to art and design in future.

The Vision of the Holy Grail or The Attainment tapestry. Overall design by Morris, figures by Burne-Jones, and backgrounds by Dearle Morris and Company, 1890

Stanmore Hall Tapestries: William Morris

Knight of the Round Table: Panel 1

Stanmore Hall Tapestries:William Morris

Virgins at Knight's Departure: Panel 2

Stanmore Hall Tapestries: William Morris

Quest-Gawaine and Unwaine at Ruin: Panel 3

Stanmore Hall Tapestries:William Morris

The Ship:Panel 5

Stanmore Hall Tapestries: William Morris

Attainment -Galahad, Bors and Percival: Panel 6

Tapestry: Arthur

popularity of design

Alfred Lord Tennyson: Mariana

WITH blackest moss the flower-plots Were thickly crusted, one and all:The rusted nails fell from the knots That held the pear to the gable-wall.The broken sheds look'd sad and strange: Unlifted was the clinking latch; Weeded and worn the ancient thatchUpon the lonely moated grange. She only said, 'My life is dreary, He cometh not,' she said; She said, 'I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!'Her tears fell with the dews at even; Her tears fell ere the dews were dried;She could not look on the sweet heaven, Either at morn or eventide.After the flitting of the bats, When thickest dark did trance the sky, She drew her casement-curtain by,And glanced athwart the glooming flats. She only said, 'The night is dreary, He cometh not,' she said; She said, 'I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!'Upon the middle of the night, Waking she heard the night-fowl crow:The cock sung out an hour ere light: From the dark fen the oxen's lowCame to her: without hope of change, In sleep she seem'd to walk forlorn, Till cold winds woke the gray-eyed mornAbout the lonely moated grange. She only said, 'The day is dreary, He cometh not,' she said; She said, 'I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!'About a stone-cast from the wall A sluice with blacken'd waters slept,And o'er it many, round and small, The cluster'd marish-mosses crept.Hard by a poplar shook alway, All silver-green with gnarled bark: For leagues no other tree did markThe level waste, the rounding gray. She only said, 'My life is dreary, He cometh not,' she said; She said, 'I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!'And ever when the moon was low, And the shrill winds were up and away,In the white curtain, to and fro, She saw the gusty shadow sway.But when the moon was very low, And wild winds bound within their cell, The shadow of the poplar fellUpon her bed, across her brow. She only said, 'The night is dreary, He cometh not,' she said; She said, 'I am aweary, aweary, I would that I were dead!'All day within the dreamy house, The doors upon their hinges creak'd;The blue fly sung in the pane; the mouse Behind the mouldering wainscot shriek'd,Or from the crevice peer'd about. Old faces glimmer'd thro' the doors, Old footsteps trod the upper floors,Old voices call'd her from without. She only said, 'My life is dreary, He cometh not,' she said; She said, 'I am aweary, aweary,' I would that I were dead!'The sparrow's chirrup on the roof, The slow clock ticking, and the soundWhich to the wooing wind aloof The poplar made, did all confoundHer sense; but most she loathed the hour When the thick-moted sunbeam lay Athwart the chambers, and the dayWas sloping toward his western bower. Then, said she, 'I am very dreary, He will not come,' she said; She wept, 'I am aweary, aweary, O God, that I were dead!'

Tennyson: 'The Lady of Shallot', 'Mariana', 'The Palace of Art'.

T.S.Eliot began his essay on ‘In Memoriam’ with one of the least intelligent of his critical pronouncements:Tennyson is a great poet for reasons that are perfectly clear. He has three qualities which are seldom found together except in the greatest poets: abundance, variety, and complete competence. [Selected Essays 328]Surely one expects from ‘the greatest poets’ something more than competence, however abundant and varied. Nor does Eliot in the rest of the essay make any attempt to demonstrate this complete competence. The only clue he gives us is the phrase ‘his unique and unerring feeling for the sounds of words’. Tennyson was certainly capable of writing very beautiful verse, lyrics which demand to be set to music; but that is a capacity he shares with more minor than major poets. The major poet cannot allow himself to be seduced by the beautiful sounds of words for their own sake. Tennyson certainly erred when he allowed himself to turn his feeling for the sounds of words into what amounts to little more than a party trick – his ‘murmur of bees in immemorial elms’ and so on are mere showing off. At his worst his feeling for the sounds of words supplants all the other components of poetry. Content, if any, exists only that the style might have something to play upon. And what is competence in a poet if not the perfect fitting of style and content (as in Eliot’s own verse)? What use is style if it is not wholly at the service of content? To be aware during a play that one is hearing and watching great acting is in fact to be watching incompetent acting – acting for the greater glory of the actor at the expense of the play. Similarly to be constantly aware of a poet’s feeling for the sounds of words is to be distracted from paying attention to their meaning.F.R.Leavis wrote:Actually, Tennyson’s feeling for the sounds of words was extremely limited and limiting: the ear he had cultivated for vowel sound was a filter that kept out all ‘music’ of any subtlety or complexity and cut him off from most of the expressive resources of the English language. [Scrutiny V.i.86]Our touchstone of what those resources are is, of course, Shakespeare. The most Tennysonian lines in Shakespeare are spoken by Othello. When Othello says:Like to the Pontic sea,Whose icy current and compulsive course Ne’er feels retiring ebb, but keeps due onTo the Propontic and the Hellespontand later:Yet I’ll not shed her blood; Nor scar that whiter skin of hers than snow, And smooth as monumental alabaster.he is using his feeling for the sounds of words as a filter to keep out any thoughts or feelings which might undermine his sense of his own assurance and renown. He mistakes his mastery of words for a mastery of his situation. Even at the end, when he knows what he has done and should admit that he is ‘ignorant as dirt’, he is still shoring up his stature with resplendent words. The only appropriate words at such a time are such words as Shakespeare puts into the mouth of Lear:Why should a dog, a horse, a rat have life, And thou no breath at all? Thou’lt come no more, Never, never, never, never, never.This last is surely, in its context, the greatest and most styleless line ever written.The best critics of poetry have always been poets. It is fascinating to look at the response to Tennyson of the greatest of his contemporaries, Gerard Manley Hopkins, as evidenced in several long passages in his letters. At the age of twenty Hopkins coined the very useful critical term Parnassian, with particular reference to Tennyson:I think then the language of verse may be divided into three kinds. The first and highest is poetry proper, the language of inspiration. The word inspiration need cause no difficulty. I mean by it a mood of great, abnormal in fact, mental acuteness, either energetic or receptive, according as the thoughts which arise in it seem generated by a stress and action of the brain, or to strike into it unasked. … The second kind I call Parnassian. It can only be spoken by poets, but is not in the highest sense poetry. It does not require the mood of mind in which the poetry of inspiration is written. It is spoken on and from the level of a poet’s mind, not, as in the other case, when the inspiration which is the gift of genius raises him above himself. …Parnassian then is that language which genius speaks as fitted to its exaltation, and place among other genius, but does not sing in its flights. Great men, poets I mean, have each their own dialect as it were of Parnassian, formed generally as they go on writing, and at last, they can see things in this Parnassian way and describe them in this Parnassian tongue, without further effort of inspiration. In a poet’s particular kind of Parnassian lies most of his style, of his manner, his mannerism if you like.Hopkins then quotes a passage from Tennyson’s ‘Enoch Arden’ which contains such lines as ‘the lustre of the long convolvuluses’. He claims that poets pall on us because too high a proportion of their work is Parnassian; that Shakespeare does not pall because he writes so little Parnassian; that Wordsworth writes an ‘intolerable deal of’ Parnassian; and that it is the high proportion of Parnassian in Tennyson which has led to the need for the adjective ‘Tennysonian’. Fifteen years later Hopkins had become more severe about Tennyson, who provoked some prime examples of Hopkins’ exuberant mockery:To me his poetry appears ‘chryselephantine’; always of precious mental material and each verse a work of art, no botchy places, not only so but no half wrought or low-toned ones, no drab, no brown-holland; but the form, though fine, not the perfect artist’s form, not equal to the material. When the inspiration is genuine, arising from personal feeling, as in In Memoriam, a divine work, he is at his best, or when he is rhyming pure and simple imagination, without afterthought, as in the ‘Lady of Shalott’, ‘Sir Galahad’, the ‘Dream of Fair Women’, or ‘Palace of Art’. But the want of perfect form in the imagination comes damagingly out when he undertakes longer works of fancy, as his Idylls: they are unreal in motive and incorrect, uncanonical so to say, in detail and keepings. He shd. have called them Charades from the Middle Ages (dedicated by permission to H.R.H. etc). The Galahad of one of the later ones is quite a fantastic charade-playing trumpery Galahad, merely playing the fool over Christian heroism. Each scene is a triumph of language and bright picturesque, but just like a charade – where real lace and good silks and real jewellery are used, because the actors are private persons and wealthy, but it is acting all the same and not only so but the make-up has less pretence of correct keeping than at Drury Lane. His opinions too are not original, often not independent even, and they sink into vulgarity: not only ‘Locksley Hall’ but ‘Maud’ is an ungentlemanly row and ‘Aylmer’s Field’ is an ungentlemanly row and the ‘Princess’ is an ungentlemanly row.To be sure this gives him vogue, popularity, but not that sort of ascendency Goethe had or even Burns, scoundrel as the first was, not to say the second; but then they spoke out of the real human rakishness of their hearts and everybody recognised the really beating, though rascal, vein. And in his rhetorical pieces he is at his worst, as the ‘Lord of Burleigh’ and ‘Lady Clare Vere de Vere’ (downright haberdasher).However much tiresome Parnassian we detect in Tennyson, it cannot detract from the achievement of the poems of true inspiration (as Hopkins defines it), the poems where Tennyson’s feeling for the sounds of words does give him access to the most expressive resources of the English language, and where form perfectly serves content: such poems as ‘The Lady of Shalott’, ‘The Lotos-Eaters’ and ‘Ulysses’.One of the most useful phrases coined by Eliot was ‘objective correlative’. Eliot had no time for poetry which consisted of ‘undisciplined squads of emotion’. Perhaps the most important for him of all the necessary poetic disciplines was the objective correlative, that is some image or concrete embodiment which transforms an emotion from a purely subjective, even private matter into something the reader can recognize as belonging to the world available to all of us – a part of common human experience. Eliot notoriously accused Hamlet of being ‘an artistic failure’ because Shakespeare had failed to find objective correlatives for the turbulent feelings about female sexuality which were obviously troubling him at the time. One of the Tennyson poems Eliot praises highly is ‘Mariana’. There is certainly no shortage of objective correlatives here. In fact one might say that the poem consists of nothing else but objective correlatives for Mariana’s frustration and depression. Tennyson lifted Mariana from Measure for Measure, where she is presented as a ‘dejected lady’ who has long lamented the desertion of her lover in a ‘moated grange’. Mariana’s emotion, unlike Hamlet’s, is very simple and commonplace.For Shakespeare the fact that the grange is ‘moated’ – cut off from all intercourse with the surrounding world – is objective correlative enough. Tennyson’s Mariana is developed from Shakespeare’s only by losing hope and wishing to die, which makes her emotion even simpler: literally more monotonous. Yet Tennyson accumulates over thirty objective correlatives for it, conscripting every detail not only of the grange itself and its garden, but of the surrounding flora and fauna, the landscape of ‘glooming flats’, and the weather. It is the exact poetic equivalent of a pre-Raphaelite painting, where equal skill is bestowed on every fold of a garment, every leaf. There is, in fact, a wonderful painting of Mariana by Millais, painted in 1851, which adds to Tennyson’s portrait the acute backache suffered by Mariana through standing perpetually in the same position gazing out of the window.Tennyson seems to have little interest in Mariana except as a template upon which he can embroider his striking images. She and the poem exist for the sake of those images. It could be said that ‘Mariana’ is an artistic failure for the opposite reason to Hamlet: that it has insufficient content to sustain the weight of all these objective correlatives. But this would surely be too harsh. Almost every image is marvellously effective, technically brilliant. Eliot drew attention to the loss the line would have suffered had Tennyson written ‘The blue fly sang in the pane’ rather than ‘sung’. Every flower-pot is encrusted with black moss, as though the dead moss is itself in mourning for the flowers which should have been nourished there, as flowers of love should have blossomed in the body and spirit of Mariana. Everything is similarly, unnaturally, denied the possibility of performing the function for which it was created. The rusted nails cannot hold, the broken sheds cannot keep out the weather and the weeds. The latch remains unlifted. There is not only the mastery of expressive sounds of words, but, of course, of expressive rhythms. ‘From the dark fen the oxen’s low / Came to her’ would not have been half as plangent had the sentence not been drawn over the line ending. Though the images are not progressive, but merely accumulate, that, in itself, mimes the accumulation of minutes, days and years weighing Mariana down.They are like dead leaves first disbranched from the tree of life, then blown at the wind’s mercy, then slowly rotting: like the passage of time in a Beckett play: ‘Moment upon moment, pattering down, … and all life long you wait for that to mount up to a life’ [Endgame].Perhaps the strongest of all the images, certainly the most strongly sexual, isThe shadow of the poplar fell Upon her bed, across her brow.If we were to substitute, say, ‘aspen’ for ‘poplar’, the lines would lose all meaning.The deprivation is of body, mind and spirit. Hers is a wasted life in a waste land.The image of a woman isolated from the world, with no relationships and no sexual life, clearly aroused Tennyson’s imagination. Very soon after ‘Mariana’ came ‘The Lady of Shalott’. But the two poems are very different. The most obvious difference is that whereas ‘Mariana’ is a static tableau, ‘The Lady of Shalott’ is a highly dramatic narrative poem. The Lady’s condition changes violently almost line by line. The motivation in ‘Mariana’ could hardly be simpler: the woman has been deserted by her lover and devotes the rest of her life to waiting for his return with ever-dwindling hope. The motivation in ‘The Lady of Shalott’ is complex and mysterious. The element of story-telling imposed a necessary discipline on Tennyson: images had to do their work quickly and economically or the fast-moving drama would leave them behind. ‘Mariana’ was a tour-de-force in evocative imagery, a musical exercise in which Tennyson perfected his craft. ‘The Lady of Shalott’ vindicates that craft by putting it entirely at the service of the poem’s content. The imagery and trappings are still musical and evocative, but there is nothing too much. They are not merely descriptive and atmospheric, but symbolic, constituting, as a developing sequence, a pattern just below the surface of the poem, enriching it with deeper, more complex meanings.The landscape of ‘Mariana’ was deserted and sterile, like the woman herself. But at the opening of ‘The Lady of Shalott’ we are shown a fertile landscape busy with varied human activity. There are reapers, shepherd-lads, village girls, market churls, monks and knights. The perpetual flow of the river seems to correspond with the flow of life on its banks; and as the river flows only one way (‘down to Camelot’), so Camelot seems to be the focus, the raison d’être, of all the human activity. All human life is here, and the lady sees it all in her mirror and transforms it into art. Though the woman lives in isolation and spends her life gazing (via the mirror) out of the window, there is no suggestion that she has been deserted; nor is she ‘aweary’, still less suicidal. She delights in her art, transforming the shadows of the world in her mirror into a magic web, ‘and little other care hath she’. She is defined, however, as set apart from the general flow of life in several ways. She lives on a ‘silent isle’, literally isolated, in a rigid, colourless building, with its ‘four gray walls, and four gray towers’. There she lives ‘imbowered’, which suggests an unnatural degree of protection from the world, perhaps even imprisonment. She has no intercourse with those who pass, and has never been seen by them. Nevertheless her song is cheerful. Those who hear it think she must belong to the world of fairy.It is not until part two that we hear of the curse, and then only as something of which the lady has heard a whisper. The rumour has too little substance to spoil her enjoyment of her weaving. That she inhabits a world of ‘shadows’ disturbs the reader, but not, as yet, the lady. The first hint of dissatisfaction comes in relation to the knights who ride by (‘She hath no loyal knight and true’), and the sight of ‘two young lovers lately wed’. Now she is ‘half-sick’ of shadows, because she realizes unconsciously that she can never be loved or wed by a shadow.There has been a timeless quality about the first two parts of the poem. Time is not a factor. Everything is described as happening ‘sometimes’, and the days are indistinguishable from each other. Suddenly at the start of part three the language becomes charged with sexual energy:A bow-shot from her bower-eaves,He rose between the barley-sheaves,The sun came dazzling through the leaves,And flamed upon the brazen greaves Of bold Sir Lancelot.Sir Lancelot belongs to the world of action in time. He is the embodiment of the generating but dangerous energies of the sun:The helmet and the helmet-feather Burned like one burning flame together.Whitman spoke of Tennyson as ‘a gentleman of the first degree, boating, fishing and shooting genteelly through nature, admiring the ladies, and talking to them, in company, with that elaborate half-choked deference that is to be made up by the terrible licence of men amongst themselves’. There is certainly nothing genteel or half-choked about the language Tennyson uses here to thrust Lancelot’s sexuality into the face of the reader: a ‘mighty silver bugle’ is slung from his ‘blazoned baldric’. This is far from the high-minded romantic ideal of a ‘noble knight and true’. It is Lancelot the faithless adulterer. The reader familiar with The Winter’s Tale will recognize that ‘tirra lirra’ is sung by Autolycus in a context of tumbling in the hay with his whores. Lancelot bursts into the lady’s hitherto almost drugged consciousness like a ‘bearded meteor, trailing light’. After this revelation and awakening it is no longer possible for the lady to live with shadows, reflections in her mirror. Yet her irresistible urge to see Lancelot in the flesh immediately destroys her mirror and her loom. The curse, she realizes too late, is true. Yet the curse had been, perhaps, for her own protection, since she cannot survive exposure to the real world. To commit herself to the river of time and change is, for her, to die. By the time her boat reaches Camelot she is no more than a frozen ‘shape’.Lancelot admires her lovely face for a moment, then turns away to his world of heat and action. This reading of the poem clearly will not do. If Tennyson’s objective were to tell an Arthurian tale, he would be guilty of gross incompetence. He has left out the body of the story. In a genuine Arthurian romance the main interest would be the curse. We need to know what the lady’s life was like before the curse, who placed the curse upon her and what she did to bring it upon her, why she has been left largely in ignorance of the fact that she is cursed at all. That Tennyson shows no interest in giving us any of this information suggests that he has other purposes in mind, that the curse is not merely a traditional element in a medieval romance but has a wider, less specific reference. According to Ted Hughes the poet is in the business of finding metaphors for his own nature.Tennyson’s nature was plagued by doubts, not least doubts about his own vocation as poet. Part of him saw the role of poet as high and privileged, creating aesthetic pleasure as a balm to soothe the soul tormented by the world’s horrors, sorrows and losses. In ‘In Memoriam’ he wrote:But, for the unquiet heart and brain, A use in measured language lies; The sad mechanic exercise,Like dull narcotics, numbing pain.But another part of him agreed with Keats that ‘the poet and the dreamer are distinct’. In ‘The Fall of Hyperion’ Keats has the High Prophetess of Poetry say to him that none can become a true poetBut those to whom the miseries of the world Are misery, and will not let them rest. All else who find a haven in the world, Where they may thoughtless sleep away their days, If by a chance into this fane they come, Rot on the pavement where thou rottedst half.It is not the task of the poet to provide a haven or seek a lotos-land. Magic casements and faery lands are products of mere fancy, which seeks to provide an escape from reality. Imagination plunges into reality at its most painful and recalcitrant. Like those of Coleridge’s Ancient Mariner the stories it tells are not what the wedding-guest wants to hear, since, in Eliot’s words ‘humankind cannot bear very much reality’.Once we begin to think about ‘The Lady of Shalott’ from this larger, more allegorical perspective, the representative significance of the lady’s situation becomes obvious. By transforming images drawn from real life into a beautiful rich tapestry, she is clearly the type of the artist, as conceived in the late Romantic period. She does not set up her loom in the midst of life, or even at the open window, because the artist, in order to be able to see the whole pattern and transform it into the objective serenity of art, the aesthetic mode, cannot afford to expose herself to life’s accidents, tribulations and temptations. She must attempt to detach herself from time, chance and death.The super-sensitive artist would be defiled by the world of mud and blood, too easy a victim of the fever and the fret. Art stands against Nature as a mode of being cleansed of life’s impurities. It must therefore protect itself against Nature by building around itself several layers of insulation: first the barrier of water, then the walls of her stoutly built tower, then the mirror – the self-imposed prohibition against looking at life directly (i.e.realistically). She is not concerned with real life, but with a selective, distanced and framed reflection of it. Her objective is to transform life into art, art bearing to life the relation of distraction or palliative. Art is immune from all the ills of the world, and offers an escape from them or balm against them, and an alternative set of values of which the beautiful is paramount.The sheltered life of the artist is very pleasant, until she becomes aware of the terrible price which is being exacted in exchange for her gift, the frustration of her own deepest needs for contact and intercourse with the rest of life. No man or woman is an island. The realization dawns that life itself is defined by relationships with everything else that lives. The curse of the calling of the isolated artist is that it becomes a slow suicide. But the artist is ill-fitted to plunge back into the mainstream of life, and to do so would be fatal to her art. Tennyson has not left out an explanation of the curse, but has embodied it just below the narrative surface of the poem. Any reader who doubts this reading need only look at another poem written at much the same time in which the same theme is the overt subject: ‘The Palace of Art’. There the speaker proposes to build his soul ‘a lordly pleasure-house, / Wherein at ease for aye to dwell’. His soul will ‘live alone unto herself … while the world runs round and round’. Here life is completely transformed into art, defeating time:Below was all mosaic choicely planned With cycles of the human tale Of this wide world, the times of every land So wrought they will not fail.Here the soul seems for a while to thrive, and scorns as swine those who are satisfied to live in the unclean, chaotic world beyond her tower:Singing and murmuring in her feastful mirth, Joying to feel herself alive, Lord over Nature, Lord of the visible earth, Lord of the senses five. ‘O God-like isolation which art mine, I can but count thee perfect gain, What time I watch the darkening droves of swine That range on yonder plain.In filthy sloughs they roll a prurient skin, They graze and wallow, breed and sleep; And oft some brainless devil enters in, And drives them to the deep.’For three years she prospers; then the curse comes upon her. Unknown to herself, the sources of her life are drying up. ‘Lest she should fail and perish utterly’ God plagues her with sore despair:Deep dread and loathing of her solitude Fell on her, from which mood was born Scorn of herself.Her palace now seems to her peopled by phantasms, nightmares and corpses. Her own soul seems ‘a spot of dull stagnation, without light / Or power of movement’. She longs to hear a human voice. Her insulation, ‘inwrapt tenfold’, has exiled her from God. She has committed the ultimate crime. As she abandons her tower she thinks: ‘I have found a new land/ But I die’. However, in this poem the lady does not die. She resolves to live in ‘a cottage in the vale’ to mourn and pray. Yet she does not entirely repudiate her palace of art:‘Perchance I may return with others there When I have purged my guilt.’The crucial words are, of course, ‘with others’. Art can be redeemed if it is restored to the world of relationships and becomes a humble expression of the whole web of interdependencies which constitute life.

Pandora

opens the box

The Blessed Damozel by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

The blessed damozel leaned outFrom the gold bar of Heaven;Her eyes were deeper than the depthOf waters stilled at even;She had three lilies in her hand,And the stars in her hair were seven.Her robe, ungirt from clasp to hem,No wrought flowers did adorn,But a white rose of Mary's gift,For service meetly worn;Her hair that lay along her backWas yellow like ripe corn.Herseemed she scarce had been a dayOne of God's choristers;The wonder was not yet quite goneFrom that still look of hers;Albeit, to them she left, her dayHad counted as ten years.(To one, it is ten years of years.. . . Yet now, and in this place,Surely she leaned o'er me — her hairFell all about my face. . . .Nothing: the autumn-fall of leaves.The whole year sets apace.)It was the rampart of God's houseThat she was standing on;By God built over the sheer depthThe which is Space begun;So high, that looking downward thenceShe scarce could see the sun.It lies in Heaven, across the floodOf ether, as a bridge.Beneath, the tides of day and nightWith flame and darkness ridgeThe void, as low as where this earthSpins like a fretful midge.Around her, lovers, newly met'Mid deathless love's acclaims,Spoke evermore among themselvesTheir heart-remembered names;And the souls mounting up to GodWent by her like thin flames.And still she bowed herself and stoopedOut of the circling charm;Until her bosom must have madeThe bar she leaned on warm,And the lilies lay as if asleepAlong her bended arm.From the fixed place of Heaven she sawTime like a pulse shake fierceThrough all the worlds.Her gaze still stroveWithin the gulf to pierceIts path; and now she spoke as whenThe stars sang in their spheres.The sun was gone now; the curled moonWas like a little featherFluttering far down the gulf; and nowShe spoke through the still weather.Her voice was like the voice of the starsHad when they sang together.(Ah sweet! Even now, in that bird's song,Strove not her accents there,Fain to be hearkened?When those bellsPossessed the mid-day air,Strove not her steps to reach my sideDown all the echoing stair?)'I wish that he were come to me,For he will come,' she said.Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd?Are not two prayers a perfect strength?And shall I feel afraid?'When round his head the aureole clings,And he is clothed in white,I'll take his hand and go with himTo the deep wells of light;As unto a stream we will step down,And bathe there in God's sight.'We two will stand beside that shrine,Occult, withheld, untrod,Whose lamps are stirred continuallyWith prayer sent up to God;And see our old prayers, granted, meltEach like a little cloud.'We two will lie i' the shadow ofThat living mystic treeWithin whose secret growth the DoveIs sometimes felt to be,While every leaf thatHis plumes touchSaith His Name audibly.'And I myself will teach to him,I myself, lying so,The songs I sing here; which his voiceShall pause in, hushed and slow,And find some knowledge at each pause,Or some new thing to know.'(Alas! We two, we two, thou say'st!Yea, one wast thou with meThat once of old. But shall God liftTo endless unityWas but its love for thee?)'We two,' she said, 'will seek the grovesWhere the lady Mary is,With her five handmaidens, whose namesAre five sweet symphonies, Cecily, Gertrude, Magdalen, Margaret and Rosalys.'Circlewise sit they, with bound locksAnd foreheads garlanded;Into the fine cloth white like flameWeaving the golden thread,To fashion the birth-robes for themWho are just born, being dead.'He shall fear, haply, and be dumb:Then will I lay my cheekTo his, and tell about our love,Not once abashed or weak:And the dear Mother will approveMy pride, and let me speak.'Herself shall bring us, hand in hand,To him round whom all soulsKneel, the clear-ranged unnumbered headsBowed with their aureoles:And angels meeting us shall singTo their citherns and citoles.'There will I ask of Christ the LordThus much for him and me:— Only to live as once on earthWith Love, — only to be,As then awhile, for ever nowTogether, I and he.'She gazed and listened and then said,Less sad of speech than mild,— 'All this is when he comes.' She ceased.The light thrilled towards her, fill'dWith angels in strong level flight.Her eyes prayed, and she smil'd.(I saw her smile.)But soon their pathWas vague in distant spheres:And then she cast her arms alongThe golden barriers,And laid her face between her hands,And wept. (I heard her tears.)

Blessed Damozel

surrounded by lovers

Parallel Imagery in "The Blessed Damozel"

In "The Blessed Damozel" Dante Gabriel Rossetti illustrates the gap between heaven and earth. The damozel looks down from Heaven, yearning for her lover that remains on earth. Through imagery Rossetti connects the heavenly damozel to things of the earth, symbolizing her longing but emphasizing the distance between the lovers.She stands on God's rampart, which isSo high, that looking downward thence She scarce could see the sun. It lies in Heaven, across the flood Of ether, as a bridge. Beneath, the tides of day and night With flame and darkness ridge The void, as low as where this earth Spins like a fretful midge.Though distanced so far from the earth, her hair is "yellow like ripe corn." Rather than declare her ethereal beauty, Rossetti depicts the damozel's appearance through earthly detail. She may be far from her lover and fixed in Heaven, but her appearance and her gaze, like her heart, is grounded with her beloved on earth. Even Rossetti's description of the space between the two lovers is an attempt to unite Heaven and earth. He calls the ether a "flood" and the rampart above the ether a "bridge," both images of inherently earthly qualities — water and the manmade construction that crosses it. The passing of day and night belows her are "tides" tinged by flame and darkness. The earth is so far from heaven it looks "like a fretful midge" — small, agitated, and a sharp contrast to the peaceful stillness of Heaven.This picture of the space separating the lovers mirrors Rossetti's description of the damozel's eyes. Just as the ether is a flood, her eyes "were deeper than the depth of waters stilled at even." The damozel sees only the distance from her beloved, and through most of the stanzas, she prays for and imagines their union together, rather than immersing herself in Heaven. Heaven is fixed, while the earth spins fretfully, and in an ironic twist, the damozel's gaze is fixed upon the earth. Rossetti creates a poignant sense of her longing by depicting her gaze and her heavenly position through earthly images, and in effect, he gives the reader a glimpse of the heavens from the damozel's unreachable position.Questions1. The poem poses a parallel to Dante and Beatrice in La Vita Nuova. How does Rossetti twist the role of Beatrice in the damozel?2. The damozel's beloved speaks in the poem, and he seems to sense her and know her thoughts even though they are separated by life and death. What effect do these parenthetical interjections have on the poem? Why did Rossetti give the damozel's lover a voice?3. Rossetti connects heaven and earth through the water imagery, but he also weaves images of circles ("circling charm," "circle-wise sit they") and light ("lamps are stirred continually," "deep wells of light") throughout the poem. How do these images function? What other contrasts between Heaven and earth does Rossetti use?4. Rossetti often mentions the stillness of the damozel's gaze. Does this bear any significance for his fair lady portraits, whose mysterious gazes are central in the compositions? Are the visual representations similar to his poetic representation of the damozel?

Earthly and Divine Desire in "The Blessed Damozel

The narrator of D.G. Rossetti's poem The Blessed Damozel imagines his deceased lover in heaven calling to him so that the two can be together. Perhaps the central theme of the poem is the contrast and tension between earthly, romantic love and heavenly love of God. The poem, though told in first person, does not convey the thoughts of the narrator in the conventional way. Rossetti assigns most of the poem to a soliloquy that the narrator imagines his "damozel" speaking. He imagines his lover saying:"There will I ask of Christ the LordThus much for him and me: — Only to live as once on earthWith love, — only to be,As then awhile, for ever nowTogether, I and he.The thoughts of the narrator himself are hidden between parentheses throughout the poem — ending with his own wistful "(I heard her tears.)" This structure, moving between reflection and praise, might be seen as a take on religion itself. Though man attempts to present himself as insignificant, he projects his own desires onto the heavens.Rossetti depicts this conflict between earthly and godly love we see at play in the accompanying painting, merging aspects typical of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood with some typical of the Renaissance. The altarpiece frame itself is very reminiscent of those of the Renaissance, with a main image — of the lady- and a predella with the dreamy narrator below it. The images of lovers in heaven at the top of the altarpiece underscore Rossetti's transposition of earthly love onto the divine. Rossetti uses both heavenly and earthly imagery in the poem and the painting. Some symbols, such as "a white rose of Mary's gift" belong to both realms.Questions1. How does Rossetti's view of earthly and heavenly love contrast with the Renaissance view? What do the references to Renaissance art — e.g. the cherubim at the bottom of the frame — say about this?2. Kierkegaard was active around the same time as Rossetti wrote his poem. To contrast, Kierkegaard believed earthly, temporal love impossible to sustain, and thought love for god the only type of true love. Rossetti seems to advocate the fusion of the two. Might Rossetti's poem be a response to Kierkegaard's statement? What might have been the contemporary reaction to Rossetti's attempt to merge the two?3. It is unclear if the narrator and the lady were married at the time of her death. How would it change the religious dynamic if they were not?4. Considering that the poem seems to use religion to fortify earthly love, rather than vice versa, what is its relation to Biblical Typology?5. Especially considering Christina Rossetti's "Song," to what extent can one view "Damozel" as male egotism and anti-feminist, or forgive it as a young lover's romantic musing?

The Spiritual Depths of the Feminine Soul in Rossetti's "The Blessed Damozel".

Dante Gabriel Rossetti was only 18 when he wrote "The Blessed Damozel" in 1847. The poem went through many subsequent revisions, and it was not until 1871 that Rossetti began to work on a visual rendering of the poem. As a double work of art the pictorial version acts as a visual interpretation of his words. The first four stanzas of "The Blessed Damozel" are also written on the base of the frame, which Rossetti designed."The Blessed Damozel" tells the beautiful yet tragic tale of how two lovers are separated by the death of the Damozel and how she wishes to enter paradise, but only with her beloved by her side. Rossetti takes this theme of separated lovers that are to be rejoined in heaven from Dante's Vita Nuova, a continual source of inspiration. Rossetti divides the painting into two sections with a principal canvas on top and a narrower predella canvas beneath — a style reminiscent of Italian Renaissance altarpieces. The upper part shows the Damozel in Heaven, leaning over the golden bar or "barrier," surrounded by angels and flowers. She holds three lilies in her hands and stars encircle her flowing red hair. She gazes longingly down towards her beloved, depicted on Earth with grass and trees, in the lower predella. His hands are clasped above his head, emphasizing his plea and his state as a prisoner on Earth. The painting directly corresponds to the first verse of the poem:The blessed damozel leaned out From the gold bar of Heaven; Her eyes were deeper than the depth Of waters stilled at even; She had three lilies in her hand, And the stars in her hair were seven.The painter's choices and inclusion of detail also connect with his descriptive stanzas and illustrate the overall mood of the poem. "The Blessed Damozel" contains three different vantage points: that of the the Damozel's from heaven, the lover's from his memories and fantasies, and the lover's from his current consciousness. This last voice is indicated by parentheses, which separate the lover's earthly thoughts from the Damozel's reflective musings. By painting the Damozel on the upper portion and her beloved on the lower, Rossetti clearly demonstrates this spatial separation. He also emphasizes the fact that while this separation does not allow them to be together physically, it cannot keep them apart in their thoughts. In lines 37-42, the Damozel observes,Around her, lovers, newly met 'Mid deathless love's acclaims, Spoke evermore among themselves Their heart-remembered names; And the souls mounting up to God Went by her like thin flames.Here the Damozel questions why she cannot be with her beloved in Heaven when all others are with their loves. "Have I not prayed in Heaven? — on earth, Lord, Lord, has he not pray'd? / Are not two prayers a perfect strength?" she asks. Rossetti paints other ethereal lovers in various forms of embrace behind her, using warm, luminous tones to create a vision of idealized love in a glorious Heaven. However, this inclusion also contrasts and highlights the Damozel's unhappy and tragic situation. He also distinguishes this depiction of Heaven by using darker muted greens and browns to paint Earth. Throughout the poem, the Damozel dreams of the day when she and her beloved will be reunited and present themselves before God. In lines 125-132, the Damozel describes how her ideal love will be approved:And angels meeting us shall sing To their citherns and citoles. 'There will I ask of Christ the Lord Thus much for him and me: — Only to live as once on earth With Love, — only to be, As then awhile, for ever now Together, I and he.'Despite her hopes and prayers, the Damozel eventually realizes that she cannot be with her beloved until the right time comes and that she shall be entering Heaven without him. The Damozel "laid her face between her hands, And wept" while her lover on Earth "hears her tears." They remain apart, yet together in their hearts, separated by the two worlds. As a member of the PRB, Rossetti did not focus on biblical or typological symbolism with the intensity of William Holman Hunt. While "The Blessed Damozel" includes obvious references to biblical imagery, such as the allusion to God and Mother Mary, Rossetti does not seem to be as interested in religious symbolism in his painting. Instead, he creates a dreamy vision of Heaven full of angels, flowers and lovers — but one that still separates the two tragic lovers. In his painting, Rossetti seems to utilize the Damozel's place in Heaven and her concerns with God's grace in order to emphasize and glorify the spiritual depths of the feminine soul.Discussion Questions1. Rossetti's depictions of Heaven and Earth show two very different atmospheres — does Heaven seem like a warmer, more welcoming place? If so, why does Rossetti leave the Damozel's hopes and prayers unfulfilled? What does this say about Heaven? And death? What is the poem's view of love — should it be viewed as ideal and optimistic or not?2. In addition to her spiritual thoughts and prayers, the Damozel hold lilies, the symbol of purity, and she wears a simple white robe that "No wrought flowers did adorn." In Rossetti's descriptions of her, what sort of relationship appears between the spirit and the body? Between physical and mystical love?3. Thirty years after its first appearance Rossetti told Hall Caine that he had written "The Blessed Damozel" as a sequel to Poe's "The Raven," published in 1845: "I saw that Poe had done the utmost it was possible to do with the grief of the lover on earth, and so determined to reverse the conditions, and give utterance to the yearning of the loved one in heaven." (RPO) In Poe's poem, the speaker is a male, longing for his love, Lenore. Does Rossetti's reversal of Poe's gender roles hold any significance? How does he describe and depict the Damozel's "yearning"? And how does this reflect her gender?4. Rossetti makes many references to nature in the poem, including the lilies, the tide, the stars, the "living mystic tree" and the Dove. Do some of these elements hold Biblical symbolism? Are they significant? How does this effect his vision of Heaven and the overall theme of the poem?ReferencesThe Rossetti Archive: http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu:8090/styler/servlet/SaxonServlet?source=http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu:2020/tamino/files/1-1847.s244.raw.xml&style=http://jefferson.village.virginia.edu:2020/tamino/rossetti.xsl&clear-stylesheet-cache=yesRepresentative Poetry Online: Department of English, University of Toronto: http://eir.library.utoronto.ca/rpo/display/index.cfm

Dante Gabriel Rossetti: "Jenny": Eschewing Thinking for Feeling

In Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Jenny," the speaker confronts his sympathy for a prostitute whom he recognizes others in his society would condemn. To contrast the speaker's affection for Jenny with his expectations, Rossetti opposes emotion and thought throughout the poem.The symbol of the book represents the world outside Jenny's room that would lead the speaker to think of her as a degraded figure, rather than feel sympathy for her. The primary difference between the speaker's room and Jenny's is his books:This room of yours, my Jenny, looksA change from mine so full of books . . .Even as to-night my work was left:Until I vowed that since my brainAnd eyes of dancing seemed so fain,My feet should have some dancing too: — And thus it was I met with you. (Lines 22-3, 29-33)Rossetti here explicitly links the book to the brain, as well as to the judgmental Victorian world outside her chambers. The image of the book resurfaces when the speaker laments the fact that proper Victorian women cannot appreciate Jenny's decency. Jenny's heart, "a rose shut in a book/ In which pure women may not look" (Lines 253-5), remains inaccessible to those who subscribe to the Victorian mode of thinking.Rossetti places Jenny in opposition to this book image. Her impenetrable thoughts make her a "volume seldom read" (Line 158). The speaker cannot access her thoughts (one can find examples on Lines 60-1, 163-6, 341-2) and instead must relate to her on an aesthetic and emotional level as he looks at her beauty.Rossetti's images create a speaker who dwells in two worlds. His membership in Victorian society should make him think of Jenny as a fallen woman. However, his emotional connection to her within her room, a place so unlike his home, allows him sympathize with the difficulty of being a socially unacceptable figure.Questions1. Rossetti associates the lily with Jenny at various points in the poem. What effect does comparing the lily, a flower associated with the Virgin Mary, to Jenny produce? Is his use of the lily and other flower imagery similar to that in "The Blessed Damozel" (text) or "The Staff and the Scrip" (text)?2. There are a number of references to the artist in the poem (see in particular Lines 231, 237, 294). What significance do these comparisons of Jenny to art carry? Considering Rossetti's own career as a painter, what link do these images create between painting and poetry?3. In a similar vein, compare the stanza in "Jenny" from Lines 121-134 with Rossetti's unfinished painting Found. Do these two works present a similar moral?4. Finally, consider the "two sister vessels" image (Lines 184 & 205). What does this image indicate about Rossetti's opinions on whether or not the life of the prostitute is a choice? How does it both associate Jenny with the speaker's cousin and differentiate between them?

Jenny by Dante Gabriel Rossetti

"Vengeance of Jenny's case!Fie on her!Never name her, child!"Lazy laughing languid Jenny,Fond of a kiss and fond of a guinea,Whose head upon my knee to-nightRests for a while, as if grown lightWith all our dances and the soundTo which the wild tunes spun you round:Fair Jenny mine, the thoughtless queenOf kisses which the blush betweenCould hardly make much daintier;Whose eyes are as blue skies, whose hairIs countless gold incomparable:Fresh flower, scarce touched with signs that tellOf Love's exuberant hotbed:--Nay, Poor flower left torn since yesterdayUntil to-morrow leave you bare;Poor handful of bright spring-waterFlung in the whirlpool's shrieking face;Poor shameful Jenny, full of graceThus with your head upon my knee;-- Whose person or whose purse may beThe lodestar of your reverie?This room of yours, my Jenny, looksA change from mine so full of books,Whose serried ranks hold fast, forsooth,So many captive hours of youth,-- The hours they thieve from day and nightTo make one's cherished work come right,And leave it wrong for all their theft,Even as to-night my work was left:Until I vowed that since my brainAnd eyes of dancing seemed so fain,My feet should have some dancing too:-- And thus it was I met with you.Well, I suppose 'twas hard to part,For here I am.

And now, sweetheart,You seem too tired to get to bed.It was a careless life I ledWhen rooms like this were scarce so strangeNot long ago.What breeds the change,-- The many aims or the few years?Because to-night it all appears.Something I do not know again.The cloud's not danced out of my brain,-- The cloud that made it turn and swimWhile hour by hour the books grew dim.Why, Jenny, as I watch you there,-- For all your wealth of loosened hair,Your silk ungirdled and unlac'dAnd warm sweets open to the waist,All golden in the lamplight's gleam,-- You know not what a book you seem,Half-read by lightning in a dream!How should you know, my Jenny?Nay, And I should be ashamed to say:-- Poor beauty, so well worth a kiss!But while my thought runs on like thisWith wasteful whims more than enough,I wonder what you're thinking of.If of myself you think at all,What is the thought?--conjecturalOn sorry matters best unsolved?-- Or inly is each grace revolvedTo fit me with a lure?--or (sad To think!) perhaps you're merely gladThat I'm not drunk or ruffianlyAnd let you rest upon my knee.

For sometimes,Were the truth confess'd,You're thankful for a little rest,-- Glad from the crush to rest within,Form the heart-sickness and the dinWhere envy's voice at virtue's pitchMocks you because your gown is rich;And from the pale girl's dumb rebuke,Whose ill-clad grace and toil-worn lookProclaim the strength that keeps her weakAnd other nights than yours bespeak;And from the wise unchildish elf,To schoolmate lesser than himselfPointing you out, what thing you are:-- Yes, from the daily jeer and jar,From shame and shame's outbraving too,Is rest not sometimes sweet to you?-- But most from the hatefulness of manWho spares not to end what he began,Whose acts are ill and his speech ill,Who, having used you at his will,Thrusts you aside,As when I dineI serve the dishes and the wine.

Well, handsome Jenny mine, sit up,I've filled our glasses, let us sup,And do not let me think of you,Lest shame of yours suffice for two.What, still so tired?Well, well then,keep Your head there,So you do not sleep;But that the weariness may passAnd leave you merry,Take this glass.Ah! lazy lily hand,More bless'd If ne'er in rings it had been dress'dNor ever by a glove conceal'd!Behold the lilies of the field,They toil not neither do they spin;(So doth the ancient text begin,-- Not of such rest as one of these Can share.)Another rest and easeAlong each summer-sated pathFrom its new lord the garden hath,Than that whose spring in blessings ranWhich praised the bounteous husbandman,Ere yet, in days of hankering breath,The lilies sickened unto death.What, Jenny, are your lilies dead?Aye, and the snow-white leaves are spreadLike winter on the garden-bed.

But you had roses left in May,-- They were not gone too.Jenny, nay,But must your roses die, and thoseTheir purfled buds that should unclose?Even so;The leaves are curled apart,Still red as from the broken heart,And here's the naked stem of thorns.Nay, nay, mere words.Here nothing warnsAs yet of winter.Sickness hereOr want alone could waken fear,-- Nothing but passion wrings a tear.Except when there may rise unsoughtHaply at times a passing thoughtOf the old days which seem to beMuch older than any historyThat is written in any book;When she would lie in fields and lookAlong the ground through the blown grass,And wonder where the city was,Far out of sight, whose broil and baleThey told her then for a child's tale.Jenny, you know the city now.A child can tell the tale there, howSome things which are not yet enroll'dIn market-lists are bought and soldEven till the early Sunday light,When Saturday night is market-nightEverywhere, be it dry or wet,And market-night in the Haymarket.Our learned London children know,Poor Jenny, all your mirth and woe;Have seen your lifted silken skirtAdvertize dainties through the dirt;Have seen your coach-wheels splash rebukeOn virtue; and have learned your lookWhen, wealth and health slipped past, you stareAlong the streets alone, and there,Round the long park, across the bridge,The cold lamps at the pavement's edgeWind on together and apart,A fiery serpent for your heart.Let the thoughts pass, an empty cloud!Suppose I were to think aloud,-- What if to her all this were said?Why, as a volume seldom readBeing opened halfway shuts again,So might the pages of her brainBe parted at such words, and thenceClose back upon the dusty sense.

For is there hue or shape defin'dIn Jenny's desecrated mind,Where all contagious currents meet,A lethe of the middle street?Nay, it reflects not any face,Nor sound is in its sluggish pace,But as they coil those eddies clot,And night and day remember not.Why, Jenny, you're asleep at last!-- Asleep, poor jenny, hard and fast,-- So young and soft and tired; so fair,With chin thus nestled in your hair,Mouth quiet, eyelids almost blueAs if some sky of dreams shone through!Just as another woman sleeps!Enough to throw one's thoughts in heapsOf doubt and horror,--what to say Or think,--this awful secret sway,The potter's power over the clay!Of the same lump (it has been said)For honour and dishonour made,Two sister vessels.

Here is one.My cousin Nell is fond of fun,And fond of dress, and change, and praise,So mere a woman in her ways:And if her sweet eyes rich in youthAre like her lips that tell the truth,My cousin Nell is fond of love.And she's the girl I'm proudest of.Who does not prize her, guard her well?The love of change, in cousin Nell,Shall find the best and hold it dear:The unconquered mirth turn quieterNot through her own, through others' woeThe conscious pride of beauty glowBeside another's pride in her,One little part of all they share.For Love himself shall ripen theseIn a kind soil to just increaseThrough years of fertilizing peace.Of the same lump (as it is said)For honour and dishonour made,Two sister vessels.

Here is one.It makes a goblin of the sun.So pure,--so fall'n!How dare to thinkOf the first common kindred link?Yet, Jenny, till the world shall burnIt seems that all things take their turn;And who shall say but this fair treeMay need, in changes that may be,Your children's children's charity?Scorned then, no doubt, as you are scorn'd!Shall no man hold his pride forewarn'dTill in the end, the Day of Days,At Judgment, one of his own race,As frail and lost as you, shall rise,-- His daughter, with his mother's eyes?How Jenny's clock ticks on the shelf!Might not the dial scorn itselfThat has such hours to register?Yet as to me, even so to herAre golden sun and silver moon,In daily largesse of earth's boon,Counted for life-coins to one tune.

And if, as blindfold fates are toss'd,Through some one man this life be lost,Shall soul not somehow pay for soul?Fair shines the gilded aureoleIn which our highest painters placeSome living woman's simple face.And the stilled features thus descriedAs Jenny's long throat droops aside,-- The shadows where the cheeks are thin,And pure wide curve from ear to chin,-- With Raffael's or Da Vinci's handTo show them to men's souls, might stand,Whole ages long, the whole world through,For preachings of what God can do.What has man done here?How atone,Great God, for this which man has done?And for the body and soul which byMan's pitiless doom must now complyWith lifelong hell, what lullabyOf sweet forgetful second birthRemains?All dark.No sign on earthWhat measure of god's rest endowsThe many mansions of his house.If but a woman's heart might seeSuch erring heart unerringly For once!But that can never be.Like a rose shut in a bookIn which pure women may not look,For its base pages claim controlTo crush the flower within the soul;Where through each dead rose-leaf that clings,Pale as transparent psyche-wings,To the vile text, are traced such thingsAs might make lady's cheek indeedMore than a living rose to read;So nought save foolish foulness mayWatch with hard eyes the sure decay;And so the life-blood of this rose,Puddled with shameful knowledge, flowsThrough leaves no chaste hand may unclose:Yet still it keeps such faded showOf when 'twas gathered long ago,That the crushed petals' lovely grain,The sweetness of the sanguine stain,Seen of a woman's eyes, must makeHer pitiful heart, so prone to ache,Love roses better for its sake:-- Only that this can never be:-- Even so unto her sex is she.

Yet, Jenny, looking long at you,The woman almost fades from view.A cipher of man's changeless sumOf lust, past, present, and to come,Is left.A riddle that one shrinksTo challenge from the scornful sphinx.Like a toad within a stoneSeated while time curmbles on;Which sits there since the earth was curs'dFor Man's transgression at the first;Which, living through all centuries,Not once has seen the sun arise;Whose life, to its cold circle charmed,The earth's whole summers have not warmed;Which always--whitherso the stoneBe flung--sits there, deaf, blind, alone;-- Aye, and shall not be driven outTill that which shuts him round aboutBreak at the very Master's stroke,And the dust thereof vanish as smoke,And the seed of Man vanish as dust:-- Even so within this world is Lust.

Come, come, what use in thoughts like this?Poor little Jenny, good to kiss,-- You'd not believe by what strange roadsThought travels, when your beauty goadsA man to-night to think of toads!Jenny, wake up. . . .Why, there's the dawn!And there's an early waggon drawnTo market, and some sheep that jogBleating before a barking dog;And the old streets come peering throughAnother night that London knew;And all as ghostlike as the lamps.So on the wings of day decampsMy last night's frolic.Glooms beginTo shiver off as lights creep inPast the gauze curtains half drawn-to,And the lamp's doubled shade grows blue,-- Your lamp, my Jenny, kept alight,Like a wise virgin's, all one night!And in the alcove coolly spreadGlimmers with dawn your empty bed;And yonder your fair face I seeReflected lying on my knee,Where teems with first foreshadowingsYour pier-glass scrawled with diamond rings.

And now without, as if some wordHad called upon them that they heard,The London sparrows far and nighClamour together suddenly;And Jenny's cage-bird grown awakeHere in their song his part must take,Because here too the day doth breakAnd somehow in myself the dawnAmong stirred clouds and veils withdrawnStrikes greyly on her. Let her sleep.But will it wake her if I heapThese cushions thus beneath her headWhere my knee was? No,--there's your bed,My Jenny, while you dream.

And there I lay among your golden hairPerhaps the subject of your dreams,These golden coins.For still one deemsThat Jenny's flattering sleep confersNew magic on the magic purse,-- Grim web, how clogged with shrivelled flies!Between the threads fine fumes ariseAnd shape their pictures in the brain.There roll no streets in glare and rain,Nor flagrant man-swine whets his tusk;But delicately sighs in muskThe homage of the dim boudoir;Or like a palpitating starThrilled into song, the opera-nightBreathes faint in the quick pulse of light;Or at the carriage-window shineRich wares for choice; or, free to dine,Whirls through its hour of health (divine For her) the concourse of the Park.And though in the discounted darkHer functions there and here are one,Beneath the lamps and in the sunThere reigns at least the acknowledged belleApparelled beyond parallel.Ah Jenny, yes, we know your dreams.For even the Paphian Venus seemsA goddess o'er the realms of love,When silver-shrined in shadowy grove:Aye, or let offerings nicely placedBut hide Priapus to the waist,And whoso looks on him shall seeAn eligible deity.

Why, Jenny, waking here aloneMay help you to remember one,Though all the memory's long outwornOf many a double-pillowed morn.I think I see you when you wake,And rub your eyes for me, and shakeMy gold, in rising, from your hair,A Danae for a moment there.Jenny, my love rang true! for stillLove at first sight is vague, untilThat tinkling makes him audible.And must I mock you to the last,Ashamed of my own shame,--aghastBecause some thoughts not born amissRose at a poor fair face like this?Well, of such thoughts so much I know:In my life, as in hers, they show,By a far gleam which I may near,A dark path I can strive to clear.Only one kiss. Goodbye, my dear.

Two Literary Accounts of Prostitution in Mid 19th Century England

women

Two Literary Treatments of Prostitution in Mid 19th Century England

Rosetti's "Jenny" and Gaskell's "Esther" Prostitution in mid-nineteenth century England lurked just beneath the surface of Victorian society. Although the subject was taboo in polite company, moralists, writers, and social workers often were highly outspoken on the subject of "fallen women." Indeed, many authors chose to embody all three voices by bringing the public's attention to this "scourge of society." Dante Gabriel Rossetti uses a supposedly "enlightened" scholar to expose some of the underlying middle-class fears of "fallen women" and the dangers inherent in placing women in stereotypical categories in his poem "Jenny." Elizabeth Cleghorn Gaskell, too, wrote about a prostitute in her novel Mary Barton. However, differences in authorial experience, opinion, and viewpoint provide the reader with two contrasting views of prostitution.Women in nineteenth century England labored under the stereotypes of a Madonna/Magdalene mentality. In an age when "normal" women were not thought to have any sexual pleasure, it is no surprise that prostitution flourished. Most nineteenth century prostitutes were orphans or young women who resorted to prostitution to augment their meager incomes as laundresses, seamstresses, or factory workers. Many of these young women viewed their stint as prostitutes as a transient stage in their lives. Often by age twenty-five or six they would marry and move on with their lives.Although middle and upper class men had the capital, most working-class prostitutes "serviced" men of their own class. Women flocked to army bases and naval ports to take advantage of England's "Bachelor Army" and greatest naval fleet. In the wake of the Crimean War, the military became increasingly concerned about the health of its' servicemen; venereal diseases ran rife among the military's enlisted men.(1) The government's answer was to institute the Contagious Diseases Acts in 1864 which required all prostitutes within a radius of the bases to register with the police and to monthly submit to an internal examination to verify whether or not she was diseased. Those infected were incarcerated in lock hospitals with other venereal victims for up to nine months. According to this system, once a woman was listed as a prostitute, she was compelled to appear for this exam whether or not she continued to practice the profession, or if she later married. No matter what, the stigma followed her. The public outcry against these Acts was enormous for many people felt that such actions only reinforced the established sexual "double-standard." Even "reformed" prostitutes could not leave behind the stigma of the fallen woman. These Acts were hotly contested for about twenty years until they were finally dropped in 1886.(2)During these years, Dante Gabriel Rossetti wrote his poem "Jenny." At the same time, the dispute over the rights women, even fallen ones, stayed prominent in the public mind. Perhaps Rossetti had such an audience in mind when he wrote this work. In "Jenny," Rossetti uses the dramatic monologue to explore notions of Victorian womanhood. The prostitute Jenny is the foil against which the speaker ponders over the fine line separating the "fallen woman" and the "angel-lady."The speaker is a student who has lapsed to his former, dissolute lifestyle ("It was a careless life I led / When rooms like this were scarce so strange") (p. 64). Although before he had consorted frequently with prostitutes, the speaker probably never thought of his purchases beyond their sexual capacity. In the course of the evening, somewhat to his dismay, Jenny falls asleep with her head upon his knee without having consummated their exchange. That he still anticipated an adventurous evening is evidenced by such lines as, "What, still so tired? Well, well then, keep / Your head there so you do not sleep; But that the weariness may pass." (p. 65) She remains asleep thus providing the vehicle for the poem. Instead of sexual excess, the speaker begins to speculate about her past, her humanity, and her shame. Through this discourse, he proposes a "linguistic fantasy [in which] he gains the sexual power Jenny denies him."(3) Her silence permits the speaker to ponder over who she is as both a person and a cipher, and come to realize that she is no different than any other female. Perhaps only when "the noise of life" ceases does he really think about the "unthinkable" woman--the whore.The "Scholar John" in "Jenny" has been the subject of literary criticism for the past 130 years. John Ruskin and Robert Buchanan (writing as Thomas Maitland), two famous mid-Victorian literary critics, "condemned the speaker [for] his cool detachment and lack of sentiment."(4) Ruskin elaborated by explaining "the character of the speaker...is too doubtful...he reasons and feels entirely like a wise and just man--yet is occasionally drunk and brutal: no affection for the girl shows itself..." Both the critics perceived the speaker's descent into the "middle-class ethos" just like Matthew Arnold in his "Study of Poetry." The speaker exhibits signs of "narrow-mindedness," even in the face of his "wickedness" and "moral laxity."Twentieth century critics continue to study this "middle-class" disposition. James G. Harris in his article on Rossetti complains, "the young man's bent for moralizing displaces what should have an aesthetic experience, and blinds him to the true worth, the riches before him."(5) William Hardesty III continues, "this prig sees Jenny, as well perhaps as women whom he would consider nobler, merely as sex objects. Kris Lakey, the author or an insightful article in Victorian Poetry, concludes from these critics, that the speaker is a "faceless intellectual conductor who facilitates abstract moral debate rather than a character whose sensibility colors his intellectual response to his situation.(6) For all the "scholar john's" book learning and former bohemian lifestyle, this middle-class voice crops up both throughout the poem and within through his envisionment of women. He cannot but to designate women into "separate spheres." Yet, within this poem, he begins to realize that Jenny and his fiancée Nell are not so different.Jenny sleeps "just as another woman...Enough to throw one's thoughts in heaps of doubt and horror.." (p. 67) The prostitute is not of another species--she is a flesh and blood woman like any other "made of the same lump [of clay]." She is even "so mere a woman" like the speaker's beloved Nell (whose love for the speaker does not prevent him from consorting with prostitutes--would she still have wanted him had she known of his secret, silent other life?) Yet even the speaker acknowledges that "love" is the common "part of all they share." In this poem, love sometimes seems to be confused with sexual pleasure/anticipation. In this confusion, the speaker associates, perhaps to his horror, his "love" for Jenny with his love for Nell. This love/sexual experience, although lacking in Nell, is more than made up for by Jenny in her lifestyle. This relationship, however, is not fulfilled between Jenny and the speaker.Indeed, his relationship with Jenny, albeit a commercial one, is not very different than that with Nell. In fact, the speaker probably has thought more about Jenny, the individual, in the space of a few hours than in the untold amount of time he has known Nell. Actually, his "interpretations" of Jenny seem so much more interesting when compared to the clothes mad and empty-headed Nell (My cousin Nell is fond of fun / And fond of dress and change and praise / so mere a woman in her ways) (p. 67) whose innocence of sexuality seems to both entice him and to cause him to further realize that she, like Jenny, is a sexual being. One little part of all they shareFor Love himself shall ripen theseIn a kind soil to just increaseThrough years of fertilizing peace (p. 68).Perhaps he looks forward to a possible consummation with Nell which he has been denied with Jenny. To date he had not "known" either Jenny or Nell, yet Jenny possesses a "storehouse" of knowledge which both repels and entices him to probe deeper with his thoughts--though not with his body.Another image prevalent throughout the poem is that of the book metaphor. Critic Robin Sheets in her article "Pornography and Art: The Case of Jenny," examines this metaphor's extension through Rossetti's poem. The young scholar, unable to work, leaves his library and hires Jenny, "an object to be opened in the pursuit of textual pleasures," whom he assumes she will be "the one text he is able to master." However, Sheets hints that this metaphor carried "unconscious hostility" for it suggests to the reader that Jenny "will be as impenetrable as his other books." As the poem continues, Jenny becomes a "volume seldom read" in which, the book image, now associated with Jenny's mind, suggests that the speaker is beginning "to suspect that he cannot open the Jenny-text. The image becomes sexual as he anticipates his words pushing against the taut binding and penetrating her brain."(7)Blooming, beautiful Jenny is like "a rose shut in a book in which pure women may not look." (p. 69) Although he is a supposedly free thinking, enlightened scholar, the speaker's books, (i.e. learning and society) compel him to follow tradition and condemn her. The books become the forces which oppress her and contaminate her. (Perhaps this is a metaphor for the men who both pay for her and then legally oppress her) This poses the question, does the prostitute contaminate society or is she the victim of society's lusts? Within the book that the Jenny-bloom is pressed, "vile words" leech into this "crushed flower." Words which no lady can look upon without her cheek becoming "more than a living rose." Thus, the speaker almost implies that forces beyond Jenny's control cause her to degrade herself. Nevertheless, women such as Jenny also endanger the virtue of "purer" women, for the lady too, becomes at risk when she faces the reality of the fallen woman.The speaker archly extends the pure verses contaminated metaphor even further for he continues by comparing Jenny's beauty to the artwork of Da Vinci and Raphael. This is interesting for both artists are famous for their religious paintings, especially Madonnas, which conjures up both the old stereotypes of Madonna and Magdalene and the fine line drawn between them. However, Jenny's image inspires the speaker to wax eloquently and fearfully how she shows "this which man has done...Man's pitiless doom must now comply with lifelong hell." (p. 69) She becomes neither Madonna nor Magdalene but Eve: "A cipher of man's changeless sum of lust, past, present, and to come." (p. 70)This imagery also coalesces with Walter Pater's descriptions of the Mona Lisa by Da Vinci, written in his essay "The Renaissance. Pater exclaims that in her smile "all the thoughts and experiences of the world have etched and moulded there, in that which they have power to define and make expressive...the lust of Rome, the reverie of the Middle Ages...[and] the sins of the Borgias."(8) Jenny, to the speaker, like to Mona Lisa's smile, personifies the corporality of the world and the base nature of mankind. Unlike DaVinci's Mona Lisa, however, Jenny is not the speaker's "ideal lady" but a fearful combination of sex, sin, and womanhood--a combination which, as the writer discovers, even Nell possesses.The speaker's gazing at Jenny leads him to the conclusion that virtue is not always beautiful or kind. During his night-long verbal reverie, the speaker muses how morality often is jealous. "...Envy's voice at virtue's pitch / Mocks you because your gown is rich." (p. 64) The phrase "vice is seldom clad in rags" comes to mind. Virtue isn't always its own reward, for voluptuous, desirable Jenny stands out over the "pale girl" whose "ill clad grace and toil worn look proclaim the strength that keeps her weak and other nights than yours bespeak." (p. 64) Yet society applauds the chastity of the "pale girl" for her "strength" of character which chooses virtuous poverty over sinful splendor. Perhaps her "lonely" evenings and threadbare clothes give her the impetus to mock the well clad Jenny.For all her "fleshly pleasures," lurking beneath Jenny may be some unpleasant realities. As mentioned earlier, venereal diseases spread almost uncontrollably between prostitute and John in mid-Victorian England. D.G. Rossetti, even if he himself was unafflicted, would have been highly aware of the Contagious Diseases agitation. He seems to have imparted this knowledge to his narrator for he speaks of Jenny's mind (and, presumably, her body,) as "A Lethe of the middle-street / Where all contagious currents meet" (p. 67). Disease and decay seem to be part of Jenny's lifestyle. Perhaps this explains why the speaker does not wake her up--he might be an early practitioner of "safe sex."Thus Jenny, the embodiment of both lust and love divine, becomes inexorably entangled in the speaker's notion of sin, grace, and womanhood. Woman, the eternal question, rankles his mind until the dawn. No doubt, he would have preferred a night of passion, instead, he provided for the reader a compelling commentary into his views of women. Elizabeth Gaskell's "Esther" in her novel Mary Barton provides an interesting contrast to Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Jenny" in several ways. Both "Jenny" and "Esther" embody the absolute worst of Victorian womanhood in that they have "fallen into sin" and become prostitutes. However, in Mary Barton, the reader understands the circumstances behind Esther's "fall." In "Jenny", the reader must rely solely upon the speculations of the man who has bought her for the evening.The social implications of the two women are entirely different. Elizabeth Gaskell in her novel Mary Barton places Esther within an entire social context. Esther is the quintessential "good girl gone wrong."(9) Esther's shame is eventually known and acknowledged by her family, neighbors, and her entire circle of friends. Esther must pay the price of reckless love by her abandonment by her sailor and the death of her child. For this she rightly suffers, in the mind of her greatest critic, John Barton.Elizabeth Gaskell's sympathy towards this character comes forth in her vivid portrayal of Esther's poverty and degradation and her desire to save her beloved niece from her fate. Even Gaskell's description of Esther's clothes, her "gauze bonnet, once pink, now dirty white, the muslin gown all draggled and soaked up to her very knees" tell of her fall more eloquently than her words of warning to her niece. (p. 168 Mary Barton) This is such a contrast from the girl who left her boardinghouse "dressed in her bonnet, and gloves on her hands, like the lady she was so fond of thinking herself." (p. 43 Mary Barton) Gaskell graciously allows Esther to die of consumption (no doubt the result of her ill-gotten and insubstantial finery) in her brother-in-law's home instead of in a lock hospital.John Kucich in his article "Female Transgression in Elizabeth Gaskell's Novels," believes that the skewed, calculating application of social desires and ambitions lead to ruin in Gaskell's novels; only the rectification of this calculating ambition will cause the character to discover proper sexual identification and behavior.(10) According to this theory, because Mary Barton came to her senses, she married happily and achieved a lifestyle only dreamed of by her Aunt Esther. For Esther, who realized her bad choices only too late, experienced shame, social displacement, and eventually, death. Yet, was Esther really calculating? She thought she could become a "lady" with better clothes, food, and social standing. Instead, Esther was probably blinded by the outward signs of gentility and did not think of the consequences of "rising above her station."In contrast to Gaskell's Esther, the reader's understanding of Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Jenny" is limited to the words spoken by the narrator. Jenny's "employer," the "scholar-john" of literary criticism, waxes eloquently through the night about Jenny. However, for all his eloquence, he can only speculate; he is an unreliable narrator. The reader can infer the truth about Jenny from her surroundings.Jenny seems to have succeeded as a better class of prostitute. The description of Jenny's room in the poem, contrasts with Ether's obvious poverty . Jenny seems to have her own room which in itself is significant. The speaker's descriptions of "clocks," "lamps," and her "double pillowed bed," differs entirely from poor Esther who probably sleeps on the streets or wherever she can find a place to rest. Although this speculation probably is unrealistic, the john imagines Jenny's "lifted silken skirt" while her "coach wheels splash rebuke / On virtue" (p. 66). This is in sharp contrast to the water-logged and bedraggled Esther.These different observations of and commentaries upon prostitution could easily result from the vast differences between Elizabeth Gaskell and D.G. Rossetti themselves. Gaskell, as the wife of a Unitarian minister in Manchester, would have had firsthand experience with the poor. With Christian charity in mind, Gaskell probably had contact with prostitutes who, in her mind, were led to prostitution out of poverty, desperation, or seduction. She sympathetically portrays Esther as a fallen woman with a mission: to prevent a similar fate for her niece.In contrast, D.G. Rossetti himself had numerous contacts with nameless and faceless prostitutes. He had two long-term liaisons with prostitutes who served him both as lovers and models before he met and subsequently married Elizabeth Siddal.(11) He probably had the opportunity to consort with a better class of prostitutes than those Gaskell met. Jenny's comfortable room, her supposed silks, and her "scholar-john's" educational opportunities suggest a higher standard of living. Instead of the starving "wretched woman" portrayed by Esther, Jenny is a seemingly well fed, voluptuous blond ("...warm sweets open to the waist. / All golden in the lamplights' gleam") (p. 64) who, once she overcomes her shame, seems to like her profession ("Fond of a kiss and fond of a guinea") (p. 63). Granted, this "warmth" may be some sexual fantasy of the unreliable narrator. Whatever her true feelings, Jenny seems to make a fairly good living for herself.For the "scholar-john," silence is golden. He can envision, fantasize, and speculate about Jenny's past, present, and future. Silence is their secret. Unfortunately for Esther, her speech is all to clear. Until she voiced herself, John Barton could block her from his mind and protect Mary from the shame of her aunt. However, when Esther comes forth to warn Mary and her father, reality eventually comes crashing down upon herself and the Barton family. Their shame, which results from Esther's transgressions, is communal. Esther broke the silence by coming forth and confirming all her misdeeds.Thus, although "Jenny" and "Esther" in Mary Barton are prostitutes, their voices, situations, and authorial experience are vastly different. These two works provide an interesting contrast of womanhood against the backdrop of the mid-nineteenth century's growing awareness of prostitution. References 1. Judith K. Walkowitz, Prostitution and Victorian Social Reform: Women, Class, and the State (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1980), p. 49.2. Eric Trudgill, Madonnas and Magdalenes (London: Heineman, 1975), p. ,192.3. Daniel A. Harris. "D.G. Rossetti's Jenny: Sex, Money, and the Interior Monologue." Victorian Poetry 22 (Summer 1984), p. 205.4. Kris Lackey, "A Scholar-John: The Speaker in Jenny." Victorian Poetry 21 (Winter 1983), p. 426.5. James G. Harris, "The Rejected Harlot: A Reading of Rossetti's `A Last Confession' and `Jenny'." Victorian Poetry 10 (1972), pp. 126-127.6. Lackey, "The Scholar-John," p. 428.7. Robin Sheets, "Pornography and Art: The Case of Jenny," Critical Inquiry 14 (Winter 1988), p. 328.8. Walter Pater, The Selected Writings of Walter Pater, ed. Harold Bloom (New York: New American Library, 1974), p. 46.9. Beth Kalikoff, "The Falling Woman in Three Victorian Novels," Studies in the Novel 19 (Fall 1987), p. 358.10. John Kucich, "Transgression and Sexual Difference in Elizabeth Gaskell's Novels." Texas Studies in Literature and Language 32 (Summer 1990), pp. 192-193.11. Sheets, "Pornography and Art," p. 315.

Two Literary Accounts of Prostitution in Mid 19th Century England

Awakening Consciousness

Fazio

golden Tresses

The Male Voyeur in Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Jenny".

In patriarchal Victorian society, the pleasure of looking is a role specifically reserved for men, whereas the female always assumes the role of object. Dante Gabriel Rossetti's "Jenny" exemplifies this idea of men as active, controlling subjects and women as passive objects of desire. In other poems such as "My Last Duchess" and "Andrea del Sarto" paintings depicting a female model actually create viewing conditions which facilitate for the male viewer the voyeuristic process of objectification. Jenny also assumes a completely passive position as she is asleep with her head upon the speaker's knee. The fact that Jenny is asleep makes her unable to talk back and defend herself when the speaker voices his impressions and accusations of her. The fact that her head is lower than the speaker's also emphasizes her subordinate position. As the speaker voyeuristically "watches" Jenny "there," he is asserting his control over her(46). The speaker takes a sadistic pleasure in ascertaining Jenny's guilt and dispensing his forgiveness and ultimate punishment. The speaker finds nothing wrong with his desire for Jenny, but he condemns her for being impure. From his male viewpoint, women are not allowed to be desiring sexual subjects in their own right.Suppose I were to think aloud, — What if to her all this were said?Why, as a volume seldom readBeing opened halfway shuts again,So might the pages of her brainBe parted at such words, and thenceClose back upon the dusty sense.For is there hue or shape defin'dIn Jenny's desecrated mind,Where all contagious currents meet,A Lethe of the middle street?Nay, it reflects not any face,Nor sound is in its sluggish pace,But as they coil those eddies clot,And night and day remember not.Why, Jenny, you're asleep at last! — Asleep, poor Jenny, hard and fast, — So young and soft and tired; so fair, With chin thus nestled in your hair,Mouth quiet, eyelids almost blueAs if some sky of dreams shone through!In what way does this poem represent the ultimate repression of the female voice?How does the speaker's attitude toward Jenny change from the first section to the next? What kind of control is he trying to assert? Is it based on a need to incriminate and punish her or the desire to possess her sexually?Why does the speaker claim that Jenny's mind is completely empty and free of troubling thoughts and memories?Note the contrasting images associated with Jenny's mind. Is the first description allude to what the speaker knows is there? Does the latter, more idealized description represent the speaker's denial of Jenny's sinful, fallen state?How does the speaker's voyeuristic gaze compare or contrast with other modes of looking such as that of the artist in "Andrea del Sarto"? Recall that the artist in "Andrea del Sarto" transforms his wife into a beautiful, satisfying object as a way of making her appear less threatening. In what way is the speaker's image of Jenny like a contrived and idealized portrait?

Lady with a Crystal Ball

fate

Take Your Son Sir!

women's need for the father to accept their children

Take Your Son Sir! A Painting by Ford Maddox Brown

Take Your Son, Sir! (1851-6) is an unfinished painting by Ford Madox Brown which depicts a woman showing her newborn son to its father. She is offering her baby towards the viewer of the painting, who is implicitly equated with the father - seen in the mirror behind, opening his arms to receive the baby. The mirror also forms a halo behind the mother's head, and the pattern on the wallpaper suggests the starry heavens. Brown's principal influence was Jan van Eyck's painting the Arnolfini Marriage Portrait, recently acquired by the National Gallery. The mirror resembles the circular mirror in van Eyck's painting, which reflects an image of the artist looking at the couple in the image.The woman is wearing crinolines, which expand to cover the whole of the lower part of the painting. Brown has left this part incomplete, roughly squaring up and sketching the dress in outline. The title is written on the unfinished dress, underneath the child at the right.It is not known why Brown failed to complete the painting, but he seems to have worked on it intermittently throughout his life.InterpretationsThere are two principal interpretations of the picture. Most critics see it as an image of a wife offering the child to her husband, an interpretation supported by the sacred symbolism and by the fact that Brown depicted his own wife and their new son. Some commentators, however, interpret it as more confrontational image, in which an abandoned mistress presents her baby to its father.[1]The art historian Marcia Pointon has argued that the painting is deliberately paradoxical, playing on the conflict between new life and death. She suggests that the portrayal of the baby is influenced by medical images of fetuses surrounded by viscera within the body of woman, and that the woman's glazed, white and emaciated features suggest death.[2] Notes1. Tate Gallery Collection, Take your Son, Sir'!1851-922. Pointon, Marcia, "Interior Portraits: Women, Physiology and the Male Artist", Feminist Review, No. 22 (Spring, 1986), pp. 5-22

Arthurian Glastonbury

Geoffrey Ashe

Glastonbury Island

Geoffrey Ashe

Arthurian Glastonbury By Geoffrey Ashe

Arthurian Glastonbury by Geoffrey Ashe from The Traveller's Guide to Arthurian Britain, published by Gothic Image

Beside the main roads entering this little town, signboards welcome the visitor to "the ancient Avalon". Glastonbury's identity with that fabled island, the Avalon of legend, is one of several hard questions. Others arise out of its claims to the Holy Grail and the grave of Arthur. But certainly it is unlike anywhere else. It nestles in a strange cluster of hills, all differently shaped. The highest, Glastonbury Tor, is a wildly distorted cone with a tower on its summit. Wirral or Wearyall Hill is a ridge stretching out towards the Bristol Channel. Chalice Hill is a smooth natural dome. Windmill Hill, more outspread, masks the others as you approach from Wells.Around is flat country. At the beginning of the Christian era, much of it was submerged or swampy. Glastonbury's hill-cluster was not far from being an island. In the middle distance were Celtic lake-villages at Godney and Meare, on ground artificially banked up. These were centres of the 'La Tène' culture, and objects from them are on view in the town museum, which is housed in a medieval building called the Tribunal. They witness to a high degree of craftsmanship and sophistication. In Roman times, to judge from traces of a wharf by Wearyall Hill, Glastonbury was a port. The water was still there in Arthur's day – very probably more of it, and closer in. The reclamation and draining of the levels came later, and even in fairly recent years, floods have been known to surge over the whole green expanse between town and sea.People of Celtic stock formerly spoke of Glastonbury as Ynys-witrin, the Glass Island. Whether this was its name before the Saxons gave it its present one, or whether it was a mis-rendering of the Saxon name which sounded as if it had 'glass' in it, is another hard question. Glass would have evoked Celtic fairy-lore and otherworld mythology, Avalonian or not (as at Bardsey). But whatever else was happening here before the Saxons' arrival, the 'island' or near-island was the home of a community of British monks living in wattle cells.Their monastery had a high reputation. Many saints of the Celtic Church are said to have come to it, and a Welsh triad makes it one of the handful with the distinction of a perpetual choir (see Amesbury). It was far enough west to escape the horrors of the early waves of Saxon invasion. Checked by the counter-attacks of Ambrosius and Arthur, the conquerors paused a long way short of Glastonbury and did not reach it till 658. By then they had become Christians themselves. The kings of Wessex took charge of the monastery, endowed and enlarged it, with no break in continuity. It became a temple of reconciliation between the races, where they worked together instead of killing each other. Here in a sense the United Kingdom was born. The monastery grew into a vast Benedictine abbey, a national shrine, so rich in its history, traditions, and multitude of great names that Glastonbury was spoken of as a second Rome.Something of the abbey is still there, a huge, cryptic, haunting memento of an amazing past. The entrance is through an arch beside the Town Hall and up an approach path. It can also be reached directly from the adjoining car park. A bookshop by the entrance offers illustrated guides, books and souvenirs.Glastonbury Abbey at its height was the largest and wealthiest in the kingdom after Westminster. As a popular saying put it, "If the abbot of Glastonbury could marry the abbess of Shaftesbury they would have more land than the king of England." In 1539 the Abbey was dissolved by Henry VIII with exceptional ruthlessness, and its last abbot, Richard Whiting, was hanged. A few years after wards it came into private hands. Its successive owners tore most of it down to sell as material for walls and roads. In 1908 the Church of England acquired the site and took steps to preserve what little was left. The scanty ruins standing today are fragments of buildings dating from the late twelfth century onward, replacing much older ones destroyed by a fire in 1184.The Arthurian and related stories centre on the western end of the ruins. Here is the shell of the Lady Chapel, with a crypt below. The chapel was built on the site of the 'Old Church', a deeply revered structure which the fire of 1184 wiped out. Dedicated to the Virgin Mary, it was a plain building, basically of wattle-work, though reinforced with timber and lead. According to a legend which story-tellers and poets have elaborated over the past seven or eight centuries, its builder was Joseph of Arimathea, the rich man who obtained the body of Christ after the crucifixion and had it buried in his own tomb. Joseph and several companions came to Britain bringing the Holy Grail, and made Glastonbury their home.This famous and beloved story grew round the simple fact of the Old Church. At the earliest times we can document, it had already been standing there for many years, and no one really knew who had built it. In the tenth century, some said it had been miraculously planted by God himself and dedicated to his earthly Mother. In the early twelfth century its foundation was ascribed, by some, to disciples of Christ. But the leader of those disciples was not named as Joseph, the Grail-bringer, in any known writing till 100 years or so later again. It remains a puzzle why he should have begun to figure in chronicle and romance when he did. There may have been a far older tradition of his coming, preserved orally in Wales, and rediscovered with other Celtic matter in the Arthurian upsurge of the twelfth century. Nothing can be proved. What is very likely indeed, however, is that behind the legend – behind the mystery of the Old Church itself – is a solid and remarkable fact: that Glastonbury truly was the first British Christian community, or at any rate the first that survived, with an origin possibly in Roman times and almost certainly not long after, whoever the founder may have been.Once Joseph was established in that role, the Abbey grew to value him more and more. Towards the end of its existence the crypt under the Lady Chapel was a separate chapel for him. Here the pilgrims came with offerings. It has been re-paved and is now in use again as a place of worship, weather permitting, since it is open to the sky.A late growth is the legend of the Holy Thorn, said to have sprung from Joseph's staff when he planted it in the ground after disembarking from a boat at Wearyall Hill. The original Glastonbury Thorn grew on that hill; a stone marks the spot where the tree is popularly supposed to have stood. Today, descendants of it are flourishing in the Abbey and in front of St John's Church in the High Street, and on Wearyall Hill beside the stone. The Thorn's peculiarity is that it blossoms at Christmas or thereabouts. A sprig of the white blossom is cut off and sent to the reigning sovereign. It is not a native English tree, and the closest parallels to it are found in Syria – which, to be fair, does adjoin the Holy Land where Joseph came from! The truth may be that the first specimen was brought back by a pilgrim in the Middle Ages.Another late growth is the belief that Joseph was Jesus's uncle or great-uncle, and that he brought the boy with him on an earlier visit to Glastonbury. It is not known when or how this story originated, but it can hardly have been current at Glastonbury in the Middle Ages, since the Abbey's chroniclers would certainly have made much of it, and they never mention it.About 50 feet from the south door of the Lady Chapel is the site of Arthur's grave. This can be located roughly by standing on the far side of a path that runs parallel to the chapel wall. It was found – so the report goes – because when Henry II was in Wales, a bard divulged a long-kept secret. Arthur was buried at Glastonbury in the monks' graveyard between two pillars, probably the shafts of old crosses. Henry passed this on to the abbot. Nothing was done at the time, but in 1190 or 1191, during reconstruction after the fire, the monks decided to dig. Seven feet below ground level they unearthed a stone slab and a leaden cross, with the inscriptionHIC IACET SEPULTUS INCLITUS REX ARTURIUSIN INSULA AVALONIA– Here lies buried the renowned King Arthur in the Isle of Avalon. Considerably farther down was a coffin hollowed out of a log like a dugout canoe. Inside were the bones of a tall man, with damage to the skull suggesting death by a blow on the head. Some smaller bones, and a scrap of yellow hair which crumbled when touched, were explained as Guinevere's.We have an account of this exhumation by Giraldus Cambrensis, an observant Welshman who was there soon afterwards and discussed it with witnesses. Nevertheless, until a few years ago, historians were apt to argue that the monks invented the whole business for publicity because they needed money to rebuild after the fire. But then critics began to point out that this was unlikely. The description suggests an actual ancient burial, and medieval monks lacked the knowledge to get it right. In 1962 Dr Ralegh Radford excavated the site and showed that they had told the truth, at least to the extent that they did dig where they said, and did find an early grave. Its stone lining was still there, and it was in a part of the graveyard which would have been regarded as a place of honour.So the question narrows down to this: Was it Arthur? (And, of course, Guinevere.) Most historians would still insist that it was not, that the claim was only a fund-raising stunt, though in fact no evidence exists that it was ever exploited for that purpose. The answer must depend at least partly on whether or not the inscribed cross was a fake. It has been lost, but perhaps not for ever, since it can be traced to a Mr Hughes in Wells in the eighteenth century. Meanwhile we have a drawing of one side of it, published by William Camden in 1607. This is the "Here lies Arthur" side. The other may have had writing about Guinevere. Again there are riddles. The style of lettering on the cross is crude, and curious. If the monks forged it they did a more interesting job than most medieval forgers. But scholarly opinion differs as to the date which the style does indicate. Guesses range from the twelfth century back to the sixth, the latter view implying that the cross could have been authentic and the grave genuine.It is sometimes urged that the find was too sudden and opportune to be credible. If Arthur's grave had been there all along, the community would have known, and said so before. However, that is far from certain. Once again we must remember that because of the Anglo-Saxon conquest, many traditions handed down on the Celtic fringe were quite unknown in England till the rush of rediscovery in the twelfth century. With Arthur's grave, the story of the bard and Henry II seems to imply just such a rediscovery, rather than an invention out of nothing. And in view of the grave's prestige value, it is worth noting that Glastonbury's claim was never seriously contested. Once the secret was out, apparently, even Welshmen were aware of some reason why they could not challenge it.Having found the bones, the monks enshrined them in their church. When this was enlarged, they made a black marble tomb in front of the high altar, and there the remains of Arthur and Guinevere were reinterred in 1278 during a state visit by Edward I. The place is marked today by a notice-board, whereas the original grave is not, a fact which can confuse visitors.Coupled with the belief that Glastonbury was Arthur's last resting-place is a belief about the casting-away of Excalibur. Bedivere threw the sword into the mere at Pomparles Bridge – pont périlleux, the dangerous bridge – which spans the River Brue near the far end of Wearyall Hill on the way to Street, though the present structure, of course, is only a modern successor of the one intended. That area was then probably under water, and a mere would have been available. However, Pomparles has rivals (see Bosherston, Dozmary Pool, Llyn Llydaw, Llyn Ogwen, Loe Pool). Apart from this romantic motif, Arthur's death in or near Glastonbury would have a serious bearing on the problem of Camlann where he fought his last battle.Glastonbury's other Arthurian focus is the Tor, which is the highest hill in the cluster, and National Trust property. It is reached from the town by heading out as for Shepton Mallet on the A361. Still within the built-up area, a minor road called Well House Lane turns off to the left. This leads to both the public paths up the Tor. One of them starts a few yards from the intersection, the other on higher ground some distance along, near where the lane swings right to circle the hill.The Tor is a strange formation, with its whaleback shape and its ruined tower on top. It can be seen a long way off – the distant view from the Mendips, as you approach from Bristol or Bath, is especially striking – but in the centre of Glastonbury itself it vanishes, because the lower and rounder Chalice Hill is in the way. Ridges or terraces along the sides give an odd stepped effect. They are best seen in profile from the higher part of Well House Lane. Whatever the reason for them, the Tor itself is not (as many suppose) artificial. Of the two ways up it, the one that begins near the Shepton Mallet road is a long but mostly gradual climb; the other, at the far end, is shorter and steeper.At the summit by the tower is a small plateau. It is 518 feet above sea-level. The impressive view includes the Mendips, and Brent Knoll near the Bristol Channel. In clear weather it extends to Wales. On the other side of the Tor Cadbury Castle is visible, whence in part the 'beacon' theory, for which see Brent Knoll. But it is hard to pick out because it blends with a line of hills behind it.The Tor is the probable locale of the oldest story connecting Arthur with Glastonbury, one that was current long before any claims were made about his grave. It is told by Caradoc, a monk of Llancarfan in his Life of Gildas. Melwas, king of the Summer Land (Somerset), carried off Guinevere and kept her at Glastonbury. Arthur arrived to rescue her with Cornish and Devonian levies, though his operations were hampered by the watery country round about. Before the fighting could grow too serious, Gildas and the abbot arranged a treaty. Arthur and Melwas made up their quarrel in the church of St Mary – that is, the Old Church – and Guinevere was restored.This is the first known version of a tale which appears in several medieval romances, changing as it goes along. Melwas becomes 'Meleagant' and later 'Meliagaunt' or 'Mellyagraunce', a sinister knight. His castle is moved to Lambeth and the rescuer becomes Lancelot. But the Glastonbury tale is the original, and the Tor would have been an obvious place for a local chief to make a strongpoint. In 1964-65 Philip Rahtz excavated the summit area and found, on the south and east sides, traces of buildings of more or less Arthurian date. The complex may have been part of Melwas's establishment. However, it may also have been monastic. The question is not settled.The Tor's stepped appearance, though usually ascribed to agricultural work, has prompted theories about its use in pre-Christian ritual. Certainly it once had an otherworldly aura and was held to be an abode of strange beings – as indeed it still is, by some. The Life of the sixth-century St Collen preserves a tradition of this type. He is said to have spent some time as a hermit on the Tor's lower slope. One day Gwyn ap Nudd, king of the fairy-folk and lord of the Otherworld realm of Annwn, sent a messenger inviting Collen to visit him at the top of the hill. The saint demurred, but the invitation was repeated and at last he went. Taking some holy water, he climbed up and passed through a secret entrance into a palace. Gwyn, seated on a golden chair, offered him food, but he knew that this was a trap. After a brief conversation he tossed his holy water around him. The palace vanished and Collen found himself alone on the Tor.Gwyn is a figure from Celtic paganism. His father Nudd is the British god Nodons, who had a temple at Lydney in Gloucestershire. Gwyn and his hidden realm of Annwn both appear in early Welsh legends of Arthur, who, in spectral form, rides with him on the Wild Hunt through the sky.It was doubtless because the monks felt the Tor to be uncanny that they built a small church on top, and dedicated it to St Michael the Archangel, conqueror of the powers of hell. The powers of hell were perhaps incompletely conquered, because it fell down in an earthquake. The present tower is the last fragment of another church of St Michael, built to replace it. Local legend speaks of a hidden chamber under the tower. People who find their way into it go mad. The notion may be a last echo of ancient Celtic belief about the entrance to Annwn.If the terraces around the Tor's sides were made for any ritual purpose, they must date from an earlier period than St Collen. They are much worn and weathered. However, attempts have been made to reconstruct a pattern in the shape of a spiral path winding in and out and in again, circling the hill several times, and ending near the top. The strength of the argument is that the same septenary maze-spiral occurs in other places – though, admittedly, not carved in hillsides – and was clearly strong magic thousands of years ago.Hence, there is a case for the spiral maze theory which archaeologists are willing to entertain. More speculative is the zodiac theory. This asserts that the landscape overlooked by the Tor is covered with immense figures which represent zodiacal signs. They are marked out by streams, hills, old trackways, and other features, and form a circle ten miles across. Even believers are divided about them, disagreeing as to how they were made and what exactly the outlines are. They are only visible (if at all) from the air and it is useless to climb the Tor in the hope of seeing them. The Tor itself is said to be part of Aquarius. The Sagittarius figure is a mounted warrior, claimed as a divine or symbolic 'Arthur' of great antiquity, whose mythology shaped the legends about the human one.At the Tor's foot on the side towards Chalice Hill is a garden containing Chalice Well. This is owned and looked after by the Chalice Well Trust, a religious body, which sponsored Rahtz's excavations. The intending visitor should check in advance whether the garden will be open. Chalice Well itself, up a long slope, is enclosed by medieval stonework. The spring that feeds it, nine feet down, flows copiously even in drought. Owing to an iron impregnation the water has a slight 'spa' quality, and gives a reddish-orange tinge to the stone of the channels which carry it away.Chalice Well used to be called 'Chalk' Well, or, because of its tinted water, the Blood Spring. The significantly altered name, and fancies about the 'blood' being the blood of Christ in the Grail somewhere underground, are fairly recent. In the days of Arthur, however, when the spring was probably at ground level without superstructure, it does seem to be mentioned and thus described in one of the Grail romances, Perlesvaus, known in English translation as The High History of the Holy Grail. Clues here and elsewhere hint that it may have supplied water for a small early Christian community, in and around the little valley between Chalice Hill and the Tor, distinct from the one on the Abbey site. This perhaps is the retreat between hills – near Glastonbury, but not, at that time, in it – to which Lancelot and other survivors retire at the end of Malory's story.The neighbourhood has one further Arthurian spot, Beckery on the west of the town near a defunct factory. In a chapel here, Arthur is said to have seen a vision of the Virgin Mary, which was the reason for his putting her image on his shield (see Guinnion). Excavation has shown that an early chapel existed, but its date is unknown. Nothing can be seen today.When all these beliefs are taken together, they show how the name 'Avalon' could have settled on Glastonbury as an expression of several of them at once. First came its eerie non-Christian aspects as an enchanted Glass Island and as a point of contact with Annwn. One Celtic Otherworld could easily be equated with another; Annwn and Avalon did tend to merge or overlap; and at some stage, no one knows when, the idea took hold that Glastonbury might be the true Avalon.Then, in the twelfth century, the monks learned the Welsh tradition of Arthur's burial and supposedly confirmed it by digging him up. His last earthly destination was agreed to have been Avalon – Geoffrey of Monmouth said it. That clinched the identification. If the inscribed leaden cross was genuine it proved it anyway, because it said "here in the Isle of Avalon". But even if it was faked, it was faked with the identification in mind. Glastonbury was now Avalon indeed, and the low-lying area round about became the Vale, or Vales, of Avalon.Soon afterwards Robert de Boron wrote the first romance about the bringing of the Grail to Britain. It had been brought, he declared, by the first Christians to come there, who had been disciples of Christ himself. Glastonbury Abbey already claimed a foundation as early as that, and by such disciples. Robert took the obvious step of sending his early Christians to the 'Vales of Avalon'. Thereby Glastonbury-as-Avalon was explicitly built into the Christian legend as well as the Arthurian. Not that the equation was accepted by all, then or afterwards, but it was there to accept if one so chose. It appears again in the Abbey's chronicles and in the Grail romance Perlesvaus, which is based, so the author truly or falsely assures us, on a document "in a holy house of religion in the Isle of Avalon, where King Arthur and Queen Guinevere lie".

King Arthur's Grave

Glastonbury

Glastonbury North Door

Geoffrey Ashe

Glastonbury Thorn

garden

Glastonbury Floor Tile

Art

Glastonbury Tor

Geoffrey Ashe

Ictis and Avallon

crypt

Glastonbury Old Church

Wattle and Daub

Glastonbury: Ictis and Avallon

Ictis and Avallon by C. R. Davey Biggs

I. The Wattle and Daub ChurchAmong the traditions which are concerned with the introduction of Christianity to our island none is more tenaciously held, none seems co be based more firmly on fact, than that some years after the Resurrection of Jesus Christ Joseph of Arimathea, who had been responsible for Christ's entombment, came to Glastonbury.Nor did he come alone. However much embroidery there may be in the legends retailed by the monkish chroniclers, there is the outstanding fact of the size of the church he built 'of wattle and daub', the ground plan of which is still preserved in the ruined Lady Chapel of the Abbey. It was no small oratory for a single anchoret, but a building sixty feet wide, reproducing the oblong shape of that 'Upper Room' which was the meeting-place in Jerusalem of the adherents of 'the New Way', and capable of accommodating even more than the hundred and twenty who were present at the election of Matthias. A man of such wealth as Joseph's was not likely to travel as a solitary refugee, and quite apart from his ship's company there would naturally be some companions of the type who, according to the tradition, made their way after landing up Weary-All Hill before a settlement was made and the site of the church chosen.How strongly the belief in the fact of Joseph's foundation of this wattle and daub building is held in the Church of England was made at the time of the Lambeth Conference in 1897. A large number of bishops from all parts of the world, as well as from Great Britain and Ireland, assembled, on August 3rd, in the Abbey grounds, where an address, emphasising that Joseph's arrival and building there were actual facts of history, was given by Dr G. F. Browne, then Bishop of Stepney; and later the whole of the Abbey grounds and ruin were bought and made the property of the Established Church of England.So general is the acceptance of the tradition of Joseph's coming, but no one ever seemed to raise t.he que.stion, 'Why was Glastonbury his choice for a home in the West?'. He must have had some good reason for choosing to come up the estuary of the Brue in preference to any of those other inlets on the south coast which are so numerous from Falmouth eastwards. And of course conditions were very different then from what they are now.But before we start dealing with them, the reminder must be given, that in the vicissitudes of a long history, with peoples of various races and tongues succeeding each other, the same place may at different times have borne different names, and that one most interesting, but occasionally misleading, fact, in our geographical studies, is what S. R. Gardiner called 'The Palimpsest of the map of Britain'. It is obvious, for instance, that the word 'Glastonbury' is of Saxon composition and could not therefore have come into use before the Saxon occupation of Somerset, in the latter part of the seventh century; and we should expect that, through the invasion of Celts and Romans, the Iberians' Cliff Castle, at the Tor, with its adjoining peninsula, would receive a succession of fresh names given by the conquerors and the occupiers.How difficult those fresh names might be to spell correctly from only being heard we may judge from the substitution of 'Hawaii' for 'Owhyhee' as the name of the largest of the Sandwich Islands; and we must not therefore be surprised at the same name being spe1t in different ways, or at a puzzled copyist trying to make sense of what to him was unintelligible and making the confusion worse by getting further away from the original. There are numerous instances of this in connection with the Tor of Glastonbury, as will appear in due course.But as far as the actual history is concerned we can with fair confidence distinguish fact from fable; for the period with which we have to deal hardly comes at all within 'that huge system of monastic lying in which Glastonbury had a bad pre-eminence'. [Plummer, Bede, ii. 167.] And since 1917, when Sir Flinders Petrie demonstrated to the British Academy the minute accuracy of geographical detail in a selected portion (Bk. I, 11, 12) of Geoffrey of Monmouth, students are finding more statements worth careful consideration in that once discredited writer.II. The Iberian OccupationThe town of Glastonbury stands on the side of a hilly table-land which rises abruptly out of the flat moor, and is dominated by the Tor, a cone-shaped hill which rises to a height of five hundred feet at the south-west corner of the Isle of Avallon. The orchards and water meadows which surround the town have been reclaimed from the fens and swamps which once encircled the Tor, and made it without need of artificial protection except at the east, where a solid ridge of ground connects it with the hill at Pennard, which is a spur of the Mendips.Along this ridge was a road or trackway by which the island could be reached by friendly or hostile visitors, and as a means of protection against the latter there was constructed right across the isthmus from swamp to swamp the rampart of clay known as Ponter's Ball. It was three-quarters of a mile in length, and was strengthened as a defence by a ditch, which went to a depth of twelve feet below the old level of the ridge. No one who was familiar with the plan of the 'cliff-castles' on the coast of Pembrokeshire could fail to recognise that the plan of the Tor at the sea front, with Ponter's Ball as the defence from the inland, was exactly similar: and would infer that both were constructed by the same people, the Iberian 'metal-seekers' from the eastern Mediterranean, who planted their groups of 'circle, menhir, and dolmen' all the way up from Cornwall to the Orkneys on either side of what is now St George's Channel.A glance at the Ordnance Map will show how the entrance of the Brue estuary has been silted up; though the low-lying flatland will be flooded with an exceptionally high tide, or with heavy autumn rains, oven at the present time. And then the Tor stands out, as in days long since past, to the seafarer a welcome and inviting beacon, to the landsman a defence to seaward. With its levelled top, now crowned with the tower which is all that is left of a medieval chapel of St Michael, it proclaims itself as having been occupied at a time when the country was still so wet from the last glaciation that it could only be traversed by tracks along the top of the hills, terraces for the cultivation of crops of corn being hewn out from the top downwards by heavy mattocks of flint. Mattocks of this kind have been found in great numbers in Kent, where the megalithic builders have left abundant evidence of similar terraces made from the tops of the hills downward to the impenetrable swamps of the valleys.The secret of their attraction to the Tor and its hinterland is disclosed in the rich, red soil laid bare by the plough in the area below the terraces; for that colour shows that there is abundance of iron to be had for the trouble of mining, and the 'metal-seekers' were stimulated to activity by the variety of valuable ores in the district. Only a few miles north of the Tor, is the famous cave known as Wookey Hole, where the stalactites are deeply stained with red and blue and green from the iron, lead, and copper in the soil above. Further north, at Priddy, a dolmen tells us that the Iberians worked at the lead mines long before the Romans came to the Mendips, and appropriated all metals to be the personal property of the Emperor.According to the local tradition, our Lord visited Priddy in 'the silent years' before He entered on His public ministry: and Parry's musical setting has popularised Blake's poem based on this tradition:And did those feet in ancient timeWalk upon England's mountains green?And was the Holy Lamb of GodOn England's pleasant pastures seen?And did the Countenance DivineShine forth upon our clouded hills?And was Jerusalem builded hereAmong those dark Satanic mills?For the hills would at that period be continually clouded by the smoke from the furnaces, and the conditions of heat and darkness, under which the mining and de-silvering were done, might well justify the description 'Satanic mills'.The Tor at Glastonbury is not the only evidence of the occupation of this district by the Iberian metal-seekers. They set up their circles of monoliths, presumably for purposes of worship, as at Staunton Drew, where there are still three in a group, one of them containing a 'cove', ie. three monoliths formed into a shelter by a huge flat stone placed over them as a kind of roof; and they built their dolmens, to be abodes for the living or dead, as circumstances might dictate, in a chain stretching north into Gloucestershire and eastward through Wiltshire to Berkshire. The most important of these is at Stony Littleton, about three-quarters of a mile south-west of Wellow Church. It is approached through a passage forty-seven feet six inches in length, and of varying breadth, out of which three recesses, or transepts, open on each side. and an arched roof is made by setting the stones as corbels, each layer projecting forward from that below it till the passage is roughly vaulted and the chamber domed. At Maes How, which has been considered the abode of the overseer or 'nomarch' of the Orkneys, there is only one transept opening out on each side of the central avenue; that there should be three at Stony Littleton suggests how much more important and dignified was the resident in this chambered tumulus; and we must bear in mind that the area in which it is found is even today one of the most important mining districts in Somerset.These Iberians were short in stature, about five and a half feet in height, with brown skins and dark hair, and have bequeathed these characteristics to 'the small dark Welshman, the small dark Highlander, the small dark South of Ireland man, between whom and the small dark Basque-speaking man from the Pyrenees there is no ethnological difference'; [Professor Boyd Dawkins, Y Cymmrodor, v.22.] and their descendants, planted in the metal-bearing district of Glamorgan, known then as 'Silures', were at once recognised by Agricola's soldiers as a kindred Mediterranean face, as in their bodily frame, so also in their speech they were akin to the Basque; to them we owe apparently the names of rivers such as Severn, Wye, and Eure (the river on which York, Eboracum, stands) for which no Aryan ancestry has been found, nor is it altogether fanciful to suppose, with these Iberian names of rivers surviving in the neighbourhood, that they called the c1iff-castle Tor, and that the word Ictis itself was the name given by them to their island trade-centre, it survives in Irish as muir-nOict, which in the Annals of the Four Masters, under the dates of 405 and 1537 A.D., is translated 'the Ictian sea', and is obviously from the context a name for the Bristol Channel. The entry in 1537 AD expresses the horror caused by the suppression of Glastonbury and other abbeys.III. Ictis and AvallonWe are told that the Silures crossed the stormy seas which were, perhaps, the predecessors of 'a Severn bore' , in boats or coracles made of osier and protected by an outer covering of hides; and the crossing must have been robbed of some of its perils by the breakwaters afforded in the island of Steep Holm and Flatholm which were then of much greater size. The Brue estuary was open water until a short distance west of the Tor, where a group of small islands lay in the way to the larger one, known today as Avallon. These islands have for centuries past been joined by the silt to the mainland; but their rediscovery has led to the speculation that Avallon was really that Isle of 'Ictis' or 'Mictis' which travellers in the second century before Christ wrote of as being the centre of the British metal trade. Pliny, for instance (iv. 30), quotes Timaeus as follows: 'Six days sail inland from Britain there is an island called Mictis, in which white lead [? tin] is found, and to this island the Britons come in boats of osier, covered with sewn hides'; 'Timaeus historicus a Britannia introrsus sex dierum navigatione abesse dictit insula Mictim, in qua candidum plumbum proveniat; ad earn Britannos vitilibus navigiis, corio circumsutis, navigare.' We know nothing of Timaeus except that he is thus quoted by Pliny, but his statement is confirmed and expanded by Posidonius, who travelled in Britain, presumably about the year 80 BC, and is thus quoted by Diodorus Siculus (v. 21-22-31): 'They who dwell near that promontory of Britain which is called Belerion, are exceedingly fond of strangers, and from their intercourse with foreign merchants are civilised in their habits. These people obtain tin by carefully working the soil which produces it; this being rocky, has earthy interstices, the produce of which is ground down, smelted, and purified. They form the metal into masses shaped like knuckle-bones, and carry it to a certain island lying off the coast of Britain called Ictis; for as the ground between is left dry at low tide, they carry the tin thither in great abundance in their waggons. [The knucklebone form of ingot was for convenience of carriage. One such ingot, of quite uncertain date, which weighs 158 pounds, was dredged up near the entrance to Falmouth Harbour, and is now in the Truro museum. It has no definite mark or inscription, but its shape is corroborative of the statement of Posidonius,] Now there is this singular circumstance connected with the neighbouring islands, which lie between Europe and Britain; for at the high tides the intervening around is flooded, and they seem like islands, but at the low tide, when the sea recedes and leaves much space dry, they seem peninsulas. At this island (Ictis) the merchants buy the tin from the natives of Britain and carry it across into Gaul, and finally, journeying by land through Gaul for about thirty days, they convey their burdens on horses to the outlet of the river Rhone... A great deal of tin is carried across from the Britannic Isle to the opposite coast of Gaul. And thence conveyed by merchants, on horses, through the midland Celtic country to the people of Marseilles, and to the city called Narbonne.'Many writers have identified this island peninsula which was the seat of the British metal trade with St Michael's Mount in Cornwall, because of the mention of Belerion, the pre-Christian name of Cornwall, and because it does at the present time fulfil the condition of being an island at high tide and a peninsula at low tide; but they assume that the coastline is the same today as it was two thousand years ago, and that is an extremely precarious assumption.The alluvial flat of Mount's Bay, under which the submerged forest lies, formerly extended much further seaward, and old writers mention the tradition that St Michael's Mount formerly rose as an isolated rock, in a wood. As far as can be calculated from its known rate of encroachment, the sea cannot have reached the Mount until long after the Roman period, and the legend is probably quite accurate. The Mount was surrounded by wide marshy flats, covered with alders and willows, till well within the historic period. The contradictory story that the Phoenicians traded to St Michael's Mount for tin seems to be the invention of a sixteenth-century antiquary,' [Reid, Submerged Forests, 100, 101.]And where near St Michael's Mount are the islands spoken of by Posidonius, which were only islands at high tide? Where, too, are the cart-tracks by which the metal was brought to Ictis? Not, certainly, 'In the wide marshy flats, covered with alders and willows', but we have at Glastonbury a centre, or junction, for roads leading up from Cornwall and stretching north and west to Rollright and Arbor Low, to Kit's Coty House and Coldrum. [R. Hippisley Cox, The Green Roads of England.]There are, too, the islands. For if we start back from the Saxon overlordship, we find this striking and interesting fact: Kenwalch on his conquest of Somerset confirms to the Abbey of Glastonbury the possession of certain islands lying to the west, in the Brue estuary, up which it was still possible to sail. The names of these islands are thus given in Kenwalch's charter: 'The Manor of Glastonbury, with its islands, viz. Beckery. which is called "little Ireland", Westhay, Godney, Martinseye, Andresey, Clewer, Northlode, Redlake, Pamborough, and Bledney': of which Beckery, Westhay, andMartinseye are in Mere; Andresey in Stoke Gifford; Clewer, Northlode, and Pamborough in Wedmore; and Bledney in Wookey. [Somerset Archaeological Society, Feodary of Glastonbury Abbey, 51, and note 45.]Each rises still as a more or less conspicuous mound from the level of the silted-up marshes; and together they suggest that the statement of Posidonius that there were islands near his Ictis, which were of the same peninsula character as Ictis itself at low tide, refers to the Tor and the islands, still traceable, west of it, in the seventh century. And when we consider the distance of the Tor from the extreme point of Cornwall, we recall Timaeus' s statement, that his 'Island of Mictis was six days sail inland from Britain', and we are led to the conclusion that the island trading centre mentioned by Timaeus and Posidonius was none other than that place we now call Glastonbury. Nor is it without significance that an area between the Tor and the Brue is marked in the map facing page 35 of the first volume of Bulleid and Reid's book on the Glastonbury lake village as being named 'Actis'.IV. The Brue and the LoireCan we produce evidence that there was ever a trading centre near the Tor? To answer this question we need only refer to the account of the Lake Village discovered in 1892 at Glastonbury. The account is given by the excavators, Messrs Bulleid and Gray. in their monumental and exhaustive volumes. They conclude that the pasture fields known locally as Meare Pool occupy part of the site of a body of water which in AD 1540 is reported to have been five miles in circumference, and must have been much larger two thousand years earlier. In its area was noticed in March 1892, near the middle of the moorland lying between Glastonbury and Godney, a triangular space. three and a half acres in extent, which contained between sixty and seventy low hemispherically shaped mounds. They varied from fifteen to forty feet in diameter, with an elevation at the centre of from six to twenty-five inches above the surrounding level of the meadow, and each represented the place of a human dwelling. Of the amount of labour involved in the building of the village, we can judge from the fact that every scrap of stone, clay, and gravel had to be imported in primitive dug-out canoes, such as that discovered at Crannel Farm, three-quarters of a mile north-east of this village, and now on exhibition in the Glastonbury Museum. One dwelling-mound alone produced a hundred and fifty tons of material, and this material has been identified as having been brought from places one, two, six, and even twelve miles distant. Though discovered first, the Glastonbury lake village was of later construction than the Meare village, the method of which is copied with much exactness, and both date from the beginning of the third century before Christ. But whereas a layer of flood-soil varying from six to eighteen inches in depth, extending all over the area of the mounded field at Glastonbury, suggests that the inhabitants of the village may have been flooded out of their home; the Meare village came to an end through hostile attack. About which more will be said later.The results of the excavation show us a good deal of the daily life of a highly-civilised community on the Severn shore in the two centuries before the raids of Julius Caesar.For instance, in one area, worked wooden timbers were found, which were suggestive of the remains of the framework of looms, seventeen combs, and over twenty spindle whorls, besides triangular 'loom-weights' of clay, and of at least three sizes, all which indicate that here was a flourishing weaving industry. But besides weaving and spinning, there was pottery making, and work in glass, bronze, and iron, as well as admirable coopering and carpentry. In one hut so many needles were found that it is thought to have been a needle factory; and perhaps each industry was pursued in its own hut or group of huts.The inhabitants grew crops of wheat, barley, and peas, on the adjacent land, and they possessed dogs, pigs, and cattle, flock of sheep and herds of goats, and mobs of small horses which were used for food, but also for driving and possibly riding. Their personal ornaments consisted of rings, brooches and armlets, and beads of amber, glass, and jet, and in their lighter moments they gambled with dice that may have been derived from Italy, and amused themselves with cock-fighting, with birds probably obtained from Gaul.For it seems clear that a trade connection had already been established between the Silures, with their osier, hide-bound boats, and the Veneti, an offshoot of the same tribe as had occupied the northern slope of the Adriatic. This offshoot had made their way through Gaul to the mouth of the Loire, and controlled the sea coast near Brest and Ushant, with an inland capital which is still called after them, Vannes. Their ships were built on the model of those of the Carthaginians, whose trade they had inherited, entirely of heavy oak; the beams, which were a foot thick, were fastened with iron nails, the thickness of a thumb; their sails were made of skins and hides, in order to stand the violence of the winds. [Caesar, de Bello Gallico, iii.] The Silures also had ships of a similar kind, and took part, as allies of the Veneti, in the famous battle off Quiberon, the first recorded sea engagement outside the Mediterranean, in which they met with a crushing defeat from the fleet of Julius Caesar. It was through this battle that Caesar was inspired further to subdue the people of Britain and acquire its great mineral wealth for Rome.The chief trade from Britain to the Mediterranean countries, through Gaul, was in tin and other minerals, but furs and skins were also in request; and the great wolf dogs, which were trained to fight for the protection of their owners and their homes, had increasingly repute in Gaul and the countries beyond. We conclude, then, that it was to this 'Venice of the West' on the banks of the Loire that the astragali of tin were carried by sea, to be forwarded thence to Marseilles across Gaul.V. Afallach and his DescendantsWho, however, were the invaders who destroyed the Meare village?An old map, that of Speed, published in 1610, shows the Belgae, situated west of the Meare Pool, and north of the Brue; and it appears certain that it was this Celtic tribe which, crossing from the opposite coast of France to the Solent, made their way inland and westward, to the sea, in the neighbourhood of the Tor; they established themselves on the island peninsula, which, from the name of one of their first cheiftains, began to be called Avallach. The form of the Latin adjective from this name being Avalonensis, led to the variant Avallon; but even so, many years later, at the time of King Arthur, we are told that his famous sword 'Excalibur' was wrought at Afallach. [Peter Roberts, Annals of the Kings, 142.]For at least six centuries the descendants of Afallach held rights of property in the Tor peninsula; and their story was traced by a former librarian of the Bodleian, E. W. B. Nicholson, in a paper entitled, The Dynasty of Cunedda. [Y Cymmrodor, xxi, 63-104.]He interpreted a genealogy found at the end of the Harleian MS of the 'Annales Cambriae' to this effect: a Belgic chieftain settled in the apple country near the beginning of the Christian era, and had a son whole name indicated his inheritance of the chieftainship; this son married a princess of the Coritanians, and their son married a princess of the Dobuni; and in adherence to the Iberian and Silurian tradition of inheritance through the mother, their son became the chieftain of the Dobuni, taking the name of Dobun; and Dobun married one of the Ambivariti, a small tribe settled in the Severn sea. Through the imperial policy of exercising rule through the local chieftains, the family, as generation succeeded to generation, became more and more attached to Rome; and owing to the inter-tribal influence it had acquired through its politic marriages, it received increasing confidence from the Roman authorities. In the first half of the third century they began assuming 'regnal' names of Roman origin, and there is ground for believing that their doing so coincided with the Caledonian expedition of Severus; that the emperor found the son of Dobun a 'teachable' lieutenant, and that when, after reconstructing the Northern Wall, he retired south, 'Docilis' (teachable) was left to occupy, as a dependent chief, that part of the country between the walls of Hadrian and Antoninus known to the Welsh as Manau Guotodin. From Docilis, a succession of four more regnal names, indicating that their bearers held rule in subordination to, or alliance with, the Roman government of South Britain, brings us to Cunedag, or Cunedda, the hero of Welsh minstrelsy, and founder of a line of kings in Wales. Of two of his great grandsons, Gwytherin and Glast, we shall hear more later on, in connection with their ancestral property on the Isle of Avallon.THE ANCESTRY OF GLASTBeli, magnus. The chieftain of the invading Belgae, who destroyed the Lake village.Aballac (called by William of Malmesbury Avalloc) or Amalech, both archaic forms of Afallach, which means 'rich in apples' or 'apple-lander', took possession of Ictis.Eugein = Avigenios, 'of noble birth'.Brithguein, or Prydein, son of a princess of an East Midland tattooed tribe, Cruithni or Coritani, of which the Kymric form is Prydein.Dubun, son of a princess of the Dobuni, a tribe settled about the head of the Severn estuary, in Gloucestershire.Amguerit, son of an Ambivaritan mother.Dumn = domn, ie. dominusDoli = Docil, ie. docilis, 'teachable'.Cein, Ceionius, a well-known Roman family name borne by a consul in 240.Tacit, Tacitus, the name of a Roman emperor, 275-6. Appears in later Welsh as Tegid.Patern Pesrut = Paternus (a name borne by Roman consuls in 267, 268, 269, 279), 'of the purple cloak', ie. he was holder of the highest rank of command in the imperial army.Aetern = Aeternus, a title borne on coins by the Emperors Diocletian (284-305) and Julian (360-3).Cunedag.Dunaut (4th son).Ebiaun.Dinacat.Gwytherin 'ab Dingad' = Victorinus Docmail (9th son)ElnoGlastVI. Joseph and the Metal IndustryLong before the Belgae came the Phoenicians must have lost their monopoly of the metal trade from Britain, and it is not impossible that enterprising members of the Jewish race should have begun to take a part in it. According to a Cornish doggerel 'Joseph was a tinman', and in all the Latin versions of the Gospels of St Mark (15: 43) and St Luke (23: 50), without exception, he (Joseph of Arimathea) is called 'Decurio', which, at the time those versions were made, was the regular term in the Roman Empire for the officers placed in charge of the metal mines. He may indeed, even then, have been drawing some of the wealth upon which St Matthew lays such emphasis from the metal workings in the Mendips, as our English merchants have derived wealth from concessions arranged with the rulers of lands outside the British Dominions.For even as being nothing more than a well-to-do and well-educated subject of the Roman Empire, he could hardly be ignorant of Caesar's historic naval battle of Quiberon, and the upshot of it - which was the desire to acquire for Rome that district which had for millennia supplied the lands east of the Mediterranean with metals. He must have known about the Isle of Ictis and its actual situation; there must have been hundreds of mariners able and eager to describe it to him, and to advise as to the route thither, and the possibilities of acquiring land, and if he had already a line of merchant vessels, and regular commerce with native rulers, how natural would it not be for him, at the time when the Christians were all scattered abroad, except the Apostles' (Acts 8: 1), to turn his back on the land of his own kindred, and make a home where as yet there was no Roman ruler.So we may imagine Joseph of Arimathea came to the long-established and well-known harbour, and the Tor gave him the same beckoning welcome that it had given to un-numbered generations of immigrants from the same eastern Mediterranean. Tradition makes him land at Weary-All Hill on the north-west corner of the island, along the top of which a road ran from Street to the Lake Village: there he planted his staff which became a thorn-bush of distinct variety, and was cut down by a fanatical Puritan in 1624. Cuttings from it, however, had been made, and one of them has grown into the vigorous tree in the churchyard of the parish church, and flowers twice a year, at Christmas and in May. His wealth and trading connection made it easy for him to acquire a piece of land on the north-east of the Tor, and on it he quickly had a church built.The houses of the Meare lake village had been built of wattle and daub, and Joseph availed himself of this, the local method of construction, which as we know from the remains of Roman merchants' houses excavated in London, was capable of receiving handsome fresco decoration on the plastered walls. It was therefore no indication of poverty or economy to build the church in this style, and as a matter of fact the church so erected lasted till the fifth century, and then only needed repair on account of the damage it received in the raids made upon the place by the Pagan Irish.When the Romans advanced into Somerset, they took possession of the lead mines, and worked them in the interests of the government to raise revenue. By Roman law, all minerals belonged to the state, and lead pigs from most of the British mines bear the reigning emperor's name. The two earliest of the twelve exhibited in the British Museum came from the Mendips; one, dated AD 49, bears the name of Britannicus, son of Claudius; the other, dated AD 60, is inscribed, 'British lead, property of the Emperor Nero'.Four others are stamped as coming from the mines of Lutudarum, which was in Derbyshire, near Matlock and the river Derwent, and leased apparently to a succession of Greek freed-men. Two of these) pigs have been de-silverised, showing from their inscriptions that the Romans were mining for silver, but finding little of it in Britain, were content to continue to work the lead.More interesting perhaps than these 'pigs' are the leaden sealings, exactly similar to those used today still in Italy for securing a passenger's registered luggage. As they originally had cords through them, they seem to be peculiar to Britain. They had letters or device, on one or both faces. They may have been used for sealing or certifying military (ie. government) stores, or they may have been custom marks for merchandise, as they were found in the principia of the Roman official at Combe Down, near Bath, in the Mendip mining area; as well as at Richborough, Felixstowe, and at other similar coastal places.Some other exhibits in the British Museum, which belong to the first century of the Roman occupation, show how the metal industry grew in importance and spread in area; for the injuries likely to be inflicted on the eyes of the workers from the glowing masses of red-hot metal, and the sparks which might fly from them, led to the emergence of a school of medical men in Britain, who made a special study of disease of the eye and of remedies for them. Such was Lucius Valliatinus, who practised as a physician in the Roman colony on the Esk, and there prepared his own medicines for the eye. Such was Stolus, whose eye-salve came under the notice of Galen, the court physician of the Emperor Marcus Aurelius. And these specialists used to stamp their remedies with the name of the practitioner or make, the nature of the salve and directions for its use, either on the wax fastenings of the preparation or on sticks of solid collyrium. The stamps were not unlike in size and appearance to oblong pieces of scented soap, only their inscriptions were not on the top, but on the sides, each of which, as in the case of one found at Sandy, 2⅛ x 1½ x ⅜ in., might be inscribed with a different medicine; while one found at Cirencester boldly advertises a 'heal-all'.It is strange that the makers of these stamps seem only to have thought of using them to make an impression on soft or yielding substances. Had they made the experiment of setting their dies, while still damp and sticky from the coloured mass on which they had been impressed, on some flat surface or fabric, they would have stumbled into the discovery of printing, and achieved for the old world what was one of the mainsprings of progress in the new.VII. Banna Venta BernaeMeanwhile, as the 'pimbo', to use the Italian term for the leaden seals clamped over the knots of corded luggage, found at Combe Down, seems to indicate, the Isle of Avallon continued to thrive as a well-known place of commerce in metals; and the fame of Joseph's religious foundation grew, and attracted more and more pilgrims and settlers. Before the year AD 139, a Christian named Adiuuandus, known later as St Diuvan, was flourishing there; and some time after AD 210 another Christian, Pacandus, arrived; he became the St Mawgan, after whom a monastery on the borders of Pembrokeshire and Cardiganshire was named.So, as the years passed, the Isle of Avallon became a strong Christian centre, with links of intimacy with the Christians of Tours of the same kind as in pre-Christian days existed in commerce between the traders of the Lake Village and 'the Venice of the West' at the mouth of the Loire. Martin, the bishop of Tours, had two sisters married in Britain, one to Gorthol, prince of the Strathclyde Britons, to whom she bore Ninian, the apostle of the southern Picts; the other, Concessa, was married to Calpurnius, the deacon decurio, to whom she bore Succat, otherwise known in later days as St Patrick. An inscription at Hexham records how a prefect of cavalry, named Concessinus, cut to pieces a band of Irish raiders, and McNeill raises the question, from the similarity of names, whether the prefect of cavalry and Patrick's mother were of the same kin, and whether the raid in which Patrick was taken captive was not a calculated reprisal for the Hexham massacre. [Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, xxxvii, 6, 140. Patrick had consecrated both Fiacc and Aed to be successive Bishops of Sletty.]There is abundant evidence, therefore, that Christian faith and worship were maintained in the neighbourhood of the Tor previously to the time when the monastic life was introduced, on stricter lines, by St Patrick, when he came at the end of his missionary toils in Ireland to Avallon. Patrick was accompanied by Bridget and other companions, who established themselves as anchorets on the little islets of the Brue estuary to which they gave their names: Andresey, Martinseye, and Becary, ie. Bridget's Island, which was actually called 'Little Ireland'.But what took Patrick to Avallon? Why should he have chosen that place in preference to others, in which to pass his latter days? How was it, that when he was first given land in Ireland, for the purpose of building a church, he built, at Donagh Patrick, one which was in size and shape an exact reproduction of Joseph's vetusta ecclesia? To state the problem clearly: is it possible that the Isle of Avallon was Patrick's birthplace?There are four sources for the life of St Patrick; and taking first Fiacc's hymn, we learn that the saint 'was born in Nemthur' , a word which is in the dative, corresponding to a nominative Nemthor, and as far as signification goes may be represented by St Michael's Tor. The importance of Fiacc's statement is that the name he gives is that known to him as the name of Patrick's birthplace; for it seems that the author of the hymn was not the Fiacc who was a contemporary of St Patrick, but his successor, Bishop Aed, at whose 'dictation' our next authority, the life by Muirchu, was written. [Whitley Stokes, Tripartite Life of St Patrick, Rolls Series, cxi, 127.] Muirchu states that Patrick was born at a town which he knew by a constant and undoubting tradition to be called Ventre, ie. practically the same as Nemthor, the copyist having made the common error of reading u for n. The form Nemtrie is actually found in the Brussels codex of Muirchu' s Life of St Patrick. And considering the frequent interchange of b and v in Latin we may find the last syllable of Severn in Bernae. When we come to our other two authorities, St Patrick's Confession and Letter to Coroticus, what we find is not the name but a description of his birthplace, as a man born in London might say he was born in the metropolis. The saint admits that he cannot write good Latin, and his spelling may have been as bad as his grammar and idiom; but he insists on the fact that his father was a townsman, and it would be quite in keeping with his insistence on the social standing of his family for him to assert that his birthplace was no obscure village but 'the chief trading place of the Severn'.The phrase he uses was obscure even to Irish writers of the seventh century, and the spelling of it differs in different manuscripts; but Dr Newport White [Newport White, Libri Sancti Patricii, SPCK (1918).] gives it as Banavem Taberniae, and Professor Eoin McNeill [Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy, xxxviii, 6, 123.] took 'the common ground that the phrase as it exists in its various spellings is corrupt and requires reconstruction, and that in its original form it contained the word Venta' (trading-place, Chepstow). Hence McClure [E. McClure, English Place Names, 130.] says that the phrase would in early Irish represent 'the principal Chepstow on the Severn', ie. the Isle of Avallon or Ictis. No other Venta, such as that in Glamorganshire, had so long a history: it fits in with Muirchu's phrase, 'not far from our sea' - the Ictian sea or Bristol Channel; and perhaps the most decisive point in the identification is that Fiacc asserts that he learnt that Nemthur was Patrick's birthplace from Patrick himself.All indeed that Patrick tells us about himself locates him near the Tor. He was born of a family in which not only the Christian faith but the Christian ministry was traditional. His father, Calpurnius, was a deacon, one of the sons of Potitus, a presbyter. The district was so thickly populated that 'many thousands' of captives were carried off in the same raid as that in which Patrick was snatched from his father's suburban villa. And it was a metal producing district, for Calpurnius was a decurio, one of the order which the Romans used as an agent to establish a thorough system of local government, and for administration.If Spain may be taken as typical of other parts of the empire, a decurio was established in every little mining centre, being charged with the care of the games, the water supply, the sanitary arrangements, and the local fortifications.Hence Calpurnius must have been a very well-known man, and his son, as a captive, a specially valuable asset to the Irish raiders.Patrick speaks of the raid in which he was carried off, as if there were nothing unusual in the occurrence; and there had been since the close of the third century a series of Irish raids on the Welsh coast, and of settlements inland in Wales. It was to check these, and re-establish Roman-British authority, that Cunedda, no doubt because of his influential tribal connections, was commissioned to return from the district between the walls of Solway and Clyde, in the first decade of the fifth century. The genealogy of his descendants shows a series of great political and religious leaders, who always reverted to their ancestral possessions in the Isle of Avallon. One of his great-grandsons, St Gwytherin (ie. Victorinus), betook himself to Avallon not very long after the death of Patrick, and there founded a community house, 'Insula Victorini'.The word 'insula' could not here mean the whole of the Avallon island, for Avallon already had upon it Joseph's church and its surrounding buildings, and Patrick's settlement; but it was used in what may be called its military sense, for a group of soldiers' quarters and stores, such as filled each of the corners made by the roads which crossed each other through the camp, was an 'insula'.Hence the actual meaning of 'Insula Victorini' would be 'the convent or monastery quarters of Victorinus'. This in the British language became Yneswitherim, which the passage of time reduced to Yniswitrim; and through that form it became by way of the Latin vitreus a plaything for the monkish fabulists, who thought the name of their foundation had something to do with glass and the aspect of its shallow surrounding waters.VIII. GlastonburyBut the name 'Glastonbury' reveals that it belongs at least to the seventh century, for it means 'the fort of the descendants of Glast', and Glast was a military commander in high favour with King Arthur when he was fighting his twelve great battles against the heathen. Glast, who from the way in which his name has been impressed on history, had inherited the gifts and powers of his grandfather Cunedda, was in the year AD 510 defending the important strategic point of Luitcoyt, where the Watling Street which led from London to Chester was crossed by the Icknild Way, along which the megalithic or Iberian metal-seekers had travelled from St Davids to the lead mines in Derbyshire. Luitcoyt was the Roman fort of Letocetum, two miles west of the present city of Lichfield, which preserves in its first syllable the original Celtic name of the place, Letoc. It was being besieged by an Anglo-Saxon army, and Arthur coming to Glast's relief, routed them, in the tenth of his great battles, at the River Bassas, now known as Hammerwich Water, which runs below Lichfield, and has left traces of its former name in the three Staffordshire Basfords. Routed from Luitcoyt, which seems even then to have been a See city - William of Malmesbury calls it Escebtiorne (a word compounded from the Welsh escob, bishop, and teign, lordship) - the heathen determined, in their furious hatred of Christianity, to make an effort to secure and destroy the venerable sanctuary at Avallon, and moved westward; Arthur himself moved to intercept them at Mt Badon, near Bath, where in his last great battle, he inflicted on them a defeat from which they did not recover for fifty years. But he could not with certainty anticipate that issue, and so he directed Glast to go to the protection of the home of his ancestors. Accordingly Glast took the Icknild Way until it joined the Fosse, followed the Fosse to Bath, and thence took the right hand road to Wells, and so came to Avallon.It was still a place of great importance, for its wealth in metals and the forging of them - had not Arthur's famous sword 'Excalibur' been wrought at Afallach? - and it would have been a great prize for the invaders. 'Glast on coming saw that it was rich in manifold sources of wealth' (eam multimodis bonis affluentem uidit). But even more serious was the threat of these invaders to the oldest Christian sanctuary in Britain, and every nerve therefore had to be strained for its defence. Glast seems to have repaired and strengthened Ponter's Ball, which after five hundred years of peace was still likely to be of as much value as before in checking invasion from the land side, and the marshes and the open river Brue made Avallon practically impregnable on the other three sides. But the invaders never came; the sanctuary remained inviolate, and Arthur's body was brought there by water for interment in the grave in which in AD 1191 his body was found in a massive trunk of oak. There was a slab inscribed, 'Hic iacet sepultus inclytus rex Arthurus in insula Avalonia.'Glast remained, after Arthur's burial, as a kind of overlord in his ancestral estates, and his descendants maintained his name and fame, so that when, more than a hundred years later, the Saxons had become Christians and occupied Avallon, they not only called the town Glaston, but King Kenwalch gave special honour to the Abbey, and confirmed it, in 670, in the possession of 'the adjacent islands'. These were they in which Patrick's companions had lived in Irish fashion, as anchorets, and which on that account were known by their names: as they answered to the description given by Posidonius they help us to recognise in Avallon the Isle of Ictis.

Glastonbury: Ancient Avalon

Tor

Glastonbury: Ancient Avalon

In the far south-west of the British Isles, situated between the sea of the Bristol Channel and two low ranges of hills called the Mendips and the Poldens, there lies an enchanted area of land. It is an area that generates and guards a powerful magic. The county that contains this land is Somerset and the geographical designation of this sacred place has come to be known as the Isle of Avalon.This romantic and mysterious tract of country has a long historical pedigree, stretching back over countless millennia into eras of strange dreams and endless mystical revelations. Human beings who come to Avalon strong in the disciplines of the Old Knowledge are strangely transformed. They are fused into a form of cosmic consciousness that reflects the patterns of esoteric memory that are shaped into the very landscape itself. The focal point for the area and its arcane forces is Glastonbury, both the name of a town and the symbol of a great and holy mystery.The roots of this mystery have nothing to do with Christianity, which came late to the area, first as an inheritor, then as a usurper, finally as a destroyer. They are found through a synthesis of pagan ritual and natural, magical intuition, and they are so old, deep and strong as to be inviolable to all forms of fleeting desecration. The key to the secrets of Glastonbury and the whole Avalonian complex lies within the contours of the landscape.Once this is realised the pattern assumes its correct perspective and balances into a satisfying coherence: magic and mysticism form a delicate equilibrial harmony that fluctuates between microcosm and macrocosm. This of course needs some elucidation. As in most tales of esoteric complexity, it is best to begin at the beginning, for the whole panorama is more important and beautiful at its start than in its later misunderstood manifestations.The aura that surrounds the Isle of Avalon radiates a potent vibration, a vibration first stemming from the personalities and skills of those human beings who came to its environs during the so-called prehistoric days. Millennia before the advent of the Celtic Druids (c.500s BC) there existed at Glastonbury a race of men who shaped the whole terrain to form certain mystical and astrological patterns. In the mid-1920s these patterns were rediscovered through the single-minded researches of a brilliantly intuitive woman, Katharine Maltwood. Mrs Maltwood was a student of the Arthurian mysteries and Grail legends (both integrally woven into Glastonbury’s later history) and she made her rediscovery while studying large-scale maps of the countryside around Glastonbury Tor.The Tor is a 522ft high mound that dominates the town of Glastonbury, which is built upon and around its lower slopes. The hill is strongly pyramidal in shape and has upon its green slopes the remnants of a seven-tiered labyrinth, while its summit is crowned with the ruined tower of a fourteenth century church. The Tor and its attendant companion, Chalice Hill, will be discussed later, but they are relevant here because they make up part of the Aquarian effigy in that stupendous group of prehistoric monuments known as the Glastonbury Zodiac.It was this example of ancient technology and magic that Mrs Maltwood found laid out upon the ground in giant forms, revealed only to those minds fired with the spirit of mystical revelation. She published several books on the subject (including an aerial survey) and the true proportions of this beautiful earth sculpture were made graphically apparent. The Glastonbury Zodiac is one of those great ’hidden works’ that lies at the roots of all countries’ lore and religion, blending physical and metaphysical into a divine coherence.The form of this terrestrial zodiac, as Mrs Maltwood (and countless later researchers) have uncovered it, is circular with a circumference of thirty miles. Some of the effigies are two or three miles long (eg. Leo, Sagittarius and Pisces) and they are all shaped geomantically from natural features of the land. The effigies are delineated by hills, earthworks, mounds, artificial water courses, old roads, footpaths, streams, and rivers. Notwithstanding this, they all tally with the appropriate star constellations that shine in the sky above them. In other words there was an organically real, natural formation of topographical features forming the basic outlines of the astrological signs which were adapted by shaping through geomancy to make the finished effigies realizable.Both mystically and physically the earth was moulded to conform to the harmonies of the terrestrial and celestial energy patterns. The grand design is fully apparent only at heights of 20,000 feet and it is obvious that an elevated form of spiritual technology was used to create it. An aerial perspective would have been essential to the logistics of the scheme. The date of this supreme achievement of antiquity is obscure. Some researchers push it as far back as the Atlantean era (10,000 BC) while others, with reference to such works as the Dendarah Zodiac from Egypt, date it to 7000-8000 BC. Mrs Maltwood suggested 2700 BC as a recognition point.Whatever the date of its initial shaping, the Glastonbury Zodiac set a permanent mystical mark on this area of the British Isles that was the fountainhead for all that followed. The later legends of the Round Table, giants, Arthurian quests for revelation and the secrets of a lost coherence and sanctity, all stem from the memory of this great work carved upon the face of Somerset by men of a forgotten era. They linked earth with heaven in a direct cosmological unity that created the harmony of a now-vanished Golden Age.With the permanent sanctity of the Glastonbury area secured by the zodiacal figures, it follows that down through the centuries men would be drawn to its lingering atmosphere of magical potency. Sometime around 2000 BC a race of astronomer-priests came to Glastonbury and erected various earthworks and standing stones within the precincts of the Zodiac’s hallowed ground. Legend recounts that they constructed some form of stone monument upon the summit of the Tor and that lines of single, free-standing menhirs were laid out on the surrounding slopes of adjacent hills.Recent work by Professor Alexander Thom, the foremost living expert on megalithic geometry, has shown that the men of 2000 BC were capable of creating complex structures in earth and stone that reflected precise mathematical, geometrical, astronomical and astrological knowledge. Professor Thom, a laconic Scotsman who was Professor of Engineering Science at Oxford, has examined the Glastonbury landscape and reached the conclusion that it was laid out to form a lunar observatory where eclipses could be predicted with great accuracy. He has computed that the positions of the stones fixed the declinational and azimuthal passing points of the moon as it rose and set behind the Black Mountains of distant Wales.This exact knowledge shows that the human beings who lived and worked at Glastonbury, at least in 2000 BC, had high cultural standards that must have been inherited from earlier people, handed down as a mystical-scientific system from a time when the two were co-terminous, not hopelessly fragmented as they are today.Professor Thom’s detailed analysis of Glastonbury’s megalithic complexities are fascinating. He has produced significant data to the effect that the hills around the Tor were definite sighting points for long range observation into Wales. The moon’s inclination of orbit as it passed behind various peaks of the Black Mountains was meticulously noted by the Glastonbury megalithic astronomers. Its major standstill point and even the complex perturbation wobble could all be worked out from stone observatories strategically placed upon the slopes of the Isle of Avalon. Writing in the book Glastonbury: A Study in Pattems (RILKO, 1969), Professor Thom states:On the higher ground in and around Glastonbury the earlier Ordnance Survey showed about 30 ’stones’ but there is not much at present to show that these were Megalithic. A line of 5 stones is shown passing through the point 51003900 on the NationaI Grid at an azimuth of about 298 degrees. If it can be shown that this line is clear (or rather was clear) locally to the West then with the far horizon altitude of -0, 2, it shows a declination of +16’4. We find this declination at many Megalithic sites. It is that of the Sun at May Day and Lammas, two important days in the Megalithic calendar.Evidence that the orientational line giving a declination of +16’4 was clear about 2000 BC has recently been forthcoming. Climatologists and botanists studying the ecological conditions of the Bronze Age are now generally agreed that there was less afforestation than was once presumed and the atmosphere was free of all pollution, allowing sharper definition for the human eye.The sacred connotations of Chalice Hill have always been indicative of hidden or buried treasure, even in their Christian manifestation (Grail or Chalice buried there) and this again is significant. Hidden treasures in or on hills are commonly found in numerous West Country myths. It is possible to interpret some of these myths in an astronomical context, as the work of Kenneth Knight shows, so it is not improbable that a stone observatory was once situated upon the carefully rounded summit of the Tor’s nearest neighbour.At the foot of Chalice Hill lies the chalybeate spring named by the Christians as Chalice Well, the elaborate cover of which is carved with the major religious symbol of the Vesica Piscis. This curving, fish-like symbol forms the spring-point of religious architecture and it is used in the geometrical construction of all the more significant buildings of antiquity, including major prehistoric monuments like Stonehenge and Avebury. Chalice Well is more than a healing spring, however. Its sides are carefully constructed from great slabs of stone in the non-mortared style of masonry known as cyclopean.The bold megalithic construction of these stones was said by the archaeologist Sir Flinders Petrie to be of ancient Egyptian influence, while most modern researchers date it to at least the Bronze Age (2000 BC). Behind the central shaft, the stones form a perfectly polygonal chamber, and it is thought that ritual and sacrifice were carried out here at the correct seasonal times. Some authorities suspect that a willing victim was placed within the chamber, which was then quickly flooded from the main spring via a sluice. There are precedents for this in various European cultures in the Bronze and Iron Ages.That eminent astro-archaeologist, Sir Norman Lockyer pointed out that Chalice Well has been found (by measurements he carried out on midsummer day) to be orientated towards the summer solstice sunrise. This was (and is) a precise time of fervent religious celebration and ritual sacrifice in all lands.Another ancient geomantic monument that has many odd, mystical connotations is the huge linear earthwork and ditch known as Ponter’s Ball. It lies to the south-east of Glastonbury Tor on raised ground between what were once marshes, and it is nearly one mile long running exactly from marsh edge to marsh edge. Ponter’s Ball neatly straddles the narrow isthmus of land that links the Isle of Avalon with the main high ground [Pennard Hill] that rises eastward towards Shepton Mallet. The monument is so constructed that it seems to form an outward-facing boundary to the Sacred Isle and this is where its age and purpose become of great interest to the student of Glastonbury lore.There are two interpretations of Ponter’s Ball, one strictly orthodox in form, the other of a more speculative nature, but both are highly complementary when they are studied comparatively. Even in the eyes of conventional historians, Ponter’s Ball marks the outer boundary limit of a tremendous sacred enclosure. These earthwork enclosures, known as temenos, are found on the fringes of all the noteworthy pagan sanctuaries and the fact that the ditch of Ponter’s Ball is dug on its eastern side (away from the Tor) enhances the possibility that the ridge was indeed a temenos of considerable importance.The earthen bank has spread a good deal over the centuries but is still thirty feet across and twelve feet high in places. The deep eastern ditch is now heavily silted up but its depth must once have been comparable to the mighty trenches that surrounded the stones and mounds of Avebury and Stonehenge. The whole structure could never have been purely defensive, for any reasonably intelligent invading army could have simply outflanked it.The precise dating of Ponter’s Ball is still somewhat ambiguous. That tenacious Somerset archaeologist, Dr Arthur Bulleid, excavated beneath the bank early this century and uncovered Iron Age pottery shards which he dated to about the third century BC. These finds at least secure the reputation of the Glastonbury area as a Celtic Avalon, but do not necessarily mean that the Celts who left their culinary expertise as a calling card actually erected the mound. The ditch also threw up shards of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries AD, but no one suggests the edifice was built by the industrious monks of the then thriving community at Glastonbury Abbey.Because of its size and careful geomantic positioning it is more reasonable to set Ponter’s Ball in the Bronze Age or earlier, for adaptation by succeeding cultures is one of the key aspects of understanding the mystique of all the famous ancient sites, particularly the stones and earthworks. It is this adaptive aspect that brings us to the more speculative answer to the riddle of this old straight embankment. Research into the mysteries of the Glastonbury Zodiac has found that the long, single horn that graces the head of the Capricorn effigy is perfectly delineated by the earthy orientational line of Ponter’s Ball.Locally the earthwork has been alternatively termed the ’Golden Coffin’, and it is in December (Capricorn’s time) that the sun symbolically dies at the winter solstice. The link with the sun is important because Ponter’s Ball is thought by some researchers to be a corruption of Pontes Bel or Baal, meaning the ’bridge of the sun’; Bel being a Celtic name for the sungod and Baal being a millennia-earlier term for the perpetually regenerating life force symbolised by the golden sun. If the elongated, grassy embankment was originally the horn of the goat effigy among the Glastonbury Giants, it is obvious that its later adaptation as a Bronze Age or Celtic temenos line would be perfectly in keeping with a form of ritually handed-on religious continuity.The cultural ebb and flow around the Isle of Avalon has been spectacular to say the least, but it begins to appear that however socially diverse the incoming populations might have been, they always inherited the geomantic magic that lay in immortal stasis, graven into the landscape around them. When the Bronze Age religio-scientific civilisation waned, it was gradually replaced by the fiercer social patterns of the Iron Age (800 BC). With the mass arrival of the Celtic warriors into the lagoons and hillsides around the Tor (c. 500 BC) recorded history begins.Because of its vast antiquity and constantly preserved religious sanctity the Glastonbury area continued to attract, and incidentally mystically adapt, numerous tribes and cultures. Lake villages have been excavated at Meare and Godney (both only a few miles from the Tor) and the workmanship of the jewelled ornaments and terracotta utensils used in these villages again shows a high level of technological and artistic achievement. The warrior Celts received guidance, both religious and philosophical, from the Druid priesthood and here many see the first codification of certain rituals and practices akin to natural witchcraft (wicca). It is the Druids who were thought to have laid out the turf-banked maze, traces of which can still be seen winding up the steep face of the Tor. This seven-tiered processional path denotes the sacred importance of the Tor to the Glastonbury mystical schema and it is time to look at this artificially adapted mound in some detail.If the Zodiac is the key to the whole Avalonian complex., then the Tor is the locus, the focal point, of the inner Glastonbury power centre. In Celtic myth the entrance to the land of the dead, known as Avalon, was always a high hill surrounded by water. It was also linked to Caer Sidi, the Fairies’ glass mountain or spiral castle, where the supernatural power inherent in death met the natural energies that blended from terrestrial and cosmic interaction. Glastonbury in the Iron Age made a perfect Avalon. The low-lying levels between the Tor and the sea would have been largely under water, with numerous ranges of hills and large, grass-grown mounds rising from the shiny surfaces of interlinked lagoons. In Celtic mythology, Avalloc or Avallach was a deity associated with guardianship of the underworld (Avalon) and here the etymology of the name clarifies a little.The Tor would have made a natural centre of worship, especially if a ruined stone temple then existed upon its summit. The sharply angled sides of this hill are shaped into a series of rounded steps, rather like the step pyramid at Saqqara, Egypt, and this is the legacy of the geomancers who created the whole zodiacal pattern millennia before. The name Glastonbury is thought to stem from the old British words Ynys-witrin, which mean Isle of Glass (ie. Caer Sidi, the glass mountain), the Tor dominating the whole of the high ground that rose above the waters in the form of an elongated, tree-clad island.The ritual importance of the Tor lingered long in local memory and a church dedicated to that fearsome slayer of the pagan dragon, St Michael, was first built on the summit in the twelfth century. Traces of the megalithic stones that preceded it can allegedly be seen in the foundations of the subsequent church’s remaining tower. The main body of this church was thrown down by a severe earthquake in the thirteenth century.Legend again has it that fragments of the original prehistoric stones were also used to hallow the foundations of the nearby abbey. The Fairy king, Gwynn ap Nudd, Lord of Annwn and sometime leader of the Wild Hunt, a cosmic manifestation that is universal throughout European mythology, was a localised Tor spirit. He was said to have a palace on the summit from where he rode out with magic dogs and spectral warriors on his regular collection of souls. Obviously a daunting spectacle to those not attuned to cosmic consciousness.Another key event that linked the Tor to ancient ritual was the famous Tor Fair. The fair was held on the second Monday in September and it encompassed horse, sheep and cattle trading as well as drinking, games and general merrymaking. In 1127 King Henry I granted a charter to the abbot and monks of Glastonbury to hold the fair at the church of St Michael on the Tor. But the event was immeasurably older than this because the charter mentions that for two days the festivities had to take place at the site of the ’original’ fair. This in fact was on the lower western slopes of the Tor’s east-west axis, and just above the field used there still remain the large, broken fragments of an old megalith.This is a power stone that activates erratically early in the morning and late at night. Its power has been personally verified by the author, its manifestation being rather like a mild electric current running through the palms of the hands and spiralling up the arms. On the twenty-five-inch Ordnance Survey map this still very active stone is marked and named, significantly enough, as the Living Rock!The Tor Fair was a major local festival and in its earliest days the records state it lasted at least a fortnight. In 1850 the fair was removed to a site nearer the town, in fact to a large field behind an old public house which is called the Fairfield Tavern today [now called the King Arthur, on Benedict Street]. Although the date now varies between September and October this true festival of the people is celebrated in Glastonbury even now. Its earliest recorded mention is in a Saxon edict of King Ine; the Celtic observance and the broken stone seem satisfyingly to locate a Bronze Age perspective.Two other points can quickly be mentioned. First, the old fairs of England were often located near or utilised mazes, and the labyrinth on the Tor is now an established fact. Second, the axis of the Tor (on which the power stone directly lies) is orientated on a major ley line that runs across Britain from St Michael’s Mount, Cornwall, through St Michael’s, Burrow Mump, the Tor, Avebury circle, Ogbourne St George, and countless other minor sites linked to the dragon and his saintly slayer. Glastonbury Tor is the predominant earthwork along this straight line of mainly elevated holy sites.This sacred hill is recognised as a vast repository for both free-flowing psychic power and symbolic psychological stability, a realized unity between life and death. Its brooding strength radiates a dual purpose: generation of direct magical forces and reconciliation between the many states of consciousness that fertilise the basic impulses of human metaphysical perception. As the architect and psychic Bligh Bond realised, it is indeed a ’hill of vision’.Haunted by spirits, the abode of fairies and demons, the Tor casts an awe-inspiring ’shadow of heaven’ across the surface of the earth. Fairy fairs or gatherings are always cropping up in folklore and there is a large body of tales recounting the adventures of farmers, cowherds, milkmaids, etc., who come upon these events by accident. The Fairy fairs were held at certain sites that were traditional to the ’good people’, a well-known West Country venue being that near Pitminster in southern Somerset. At these seasonal fairs the Fairies danced, sang, ate, drank and sold livestock just like any normal human gathering. The sites are all adjacent to either mazes, mounds, stones, hill-forts or earthworks, and the later human fairs at such places were probably another directly inherited esoteric tradition.The Tor fair, linked as it was to a maze and megalithic stones, not to mention the hill’s association with Gwynn the Fairy king, culturally fits into its magically topographical surroundings in a completely satisfying manner. The memory of Fairy fairs at places of proven historical importance magnifies the magical and ritual aspects of the sites themselves and sets them firmly in the context of a carefully applied geomancy.The supernatural Pitminster Fair actually manifested itself on the slopes of Black Down Hill, situated between the villages of Pitminster and Chestonford near Taunton, and this hill still bears traces of ancient barrows and earthworks. The Fairies who frequented this fair were described as being of ’man-like’ stature, and the most common sighting by mortals was at the crucial time of the midsummer festival. A significant time if one thinks of the antique summer solstice celebrations, recognized even now by the numerous adherents of what is sometimes termed the Old Religion.Trezidder Lane, near St Levan, Cornwall, is also remembered as the site of a seasonal Fairy fair. This lane is part of a ley orientation as well as being surrounded by numbers of standing stones, cromlechs and barrows in its immediate environment of the megalith-packed Penwith peninsula. There are no definite connections in folklore between the Tor fair and the Fairies (except that the fair’s oldest site was on the slopes of Gwynn ap Nudd’s Caer Sidi, or Fairy Mountain). But when the maze and the megaliths are blended into the pattern, the importance of this hallowed mound is made physically clear in a historical yet decidedly geomythic frame of reference.The maze on the Tor and the rituals of the Druids mark the end of Glastonbury’s organically spiritual purity. The long interregnum since then has been led first by the Christians, then by the ’reality-trip’ materialists, and now by the neo-Christian cults that proliferate there today. When Christianity first tentatively approached Glastonbury during the first century AD, it came in the form of thinly disguised pagan legend; eg. the tales of Joseph of Arimathea, the planting of his staff on Wearyall Hill, the burying of the grail/chalice containing Jesus’ blood on Chalice Hill, etc.The embryonic Christian ethos was forced to embrace much pagan ritual to survive, so strongly were the old ways of thought and worship planted in the brains and souls of the people. The Joseph of Arimathea legend is remarkable both for its tenacity in local memory and its weaving together of various pagan/Christian themes. In the Glastonbury region, 17 March was always celebrated as St Joseph of Arimathea’s Day and a church in Langport (All Saints) has a stained glass window depicting the aged saint on his way to founding the first Christian church in Britain. The absorption of fertility themes is seen in the tale of Joseph’s thorn staff (the thorn was a foremost symbol of pagan magic and mythology), his carrying of the Holy Grail, and in the little-known rhyme associated with St Joseph’s Day itself. This rhyming couplet carries a simple incantational force ideal for oral chanting:If Saint Joseph’s day is clear,We shall get a fertile year.The famous thorn still grows at Glastonbury, and it burgeons forth on at least three religious sites. There is a large tree in the parish churchyard of St John’s on the High Street. Another tree lies in the Abbey grounds, and a small bush is in the original place on the upper slopes of Wearyall Hill (the Pisces effigy in the Glastonbury Zodiac). This thorn is a genuine Levantine variety, and is a freak hawthorn or applewort. It actually stems from the Near East and only flourishes in the immediate vicinity of Glastonbury.Its botanical name is Crataegus oxyacantha. Normally it cannot be struck, only budded. It flowers around 5 January (old Christmas Day) and blossoms are still sent to the reigning monarch in a continuation of a truly old tradition of magical and ritual recognisance. The legend that Joseph of Arimathea was sent by St Philip to bring the Gospel to Britain is well-established in local folk-lore but has little extant historical documentation. The complexities of its origin are too involved for any elaboration here, but there seems to be a lot of circumstantial evidence in favour.This peripatetic ’uncle’ to Jesus was supposed to have left the Holy Land sometime after 60 AD and to have ended up at Wearyall Hill (for the thorn-planting miracle) in 63/64 AD. The local king, Arviragus, supposedly gave Joseph and his followers twelve hides of land around Glastonbury and they then built the first temple to the new religion in the British Isles. The building was circular and from its alchemical fluidity of dimension great magic grew. In the author’s opinion, it must have replaced a pagan shrine of even greater cosmic efficacy, for it was established early Christian practice to build churches, etc., on the sites of those potent monuments to past religious devotion.One of the most important geomantic aspects of the Joseph legends lies in the journey (quest) made by the man and his twelve disciples across the Somerset landscape. Most of the myths state that final landfall was made in the vicinity of what is now Bridgwater Bay [12 miles W of Glastonbury] (after a disastrous excursion into Wales) and that from there the small band was ’called’ across the marshes to the looming majesty of Avalon’s holy Tor.As if this was not enough for intuitive geomantic divination there is an almost unknown reading of the legend peculiar to the area around Crewkerne [20m SW of Glastonbury]. This reading is quite specific in its imagery. The old folk-tale was collected by K. J. Watson and told afresh in his locally famous work The Legend of Crewkerne. The story was actually printed in full in the Somerset County Herald of 1920. In essence the myth relates how Joseph and his disciples were led to a straight track that marched across country following a route of antique ancestry, a route originally used by Phoenician tin traders. This old straight track was marked by small grassy mounds (barrows?) and in one place ran directly through an earthwork known as Cunnygar.Every five miles the pilgrims rested and one of their number thrust his staff into the ground to sanctify the line and mark the way. At certain unspecified points they erected crosses and on one hill Joseph set the Holy Grail on a standing stone; its light blazed out, illuminating all the surrounding woodlands. When they finally reached Wearyall Hill only Joseph retained his staff which, when thrust into the ground, burst forth as an instantly flowering thorn tree. It was then recognised as a mystical reconciliation between the magic of the old gods and the miracles of the new. That briefly is the Legend of Crewkerne; all the facts are exactly as given in the tale, only the richness of writing has been of necessity removed.The ritualistic perambulation of Joseph and his people bears much relevance for students of ley hunting and even has metrological overtones in the placing of the staves at five-mile intervals. It is interesting that Joseph planted his staff on Wearyall Hill, not the Tor. As stated above, Wearyall is part of the triple Piscean effigies in the Zodiac and it must be noted that the sign of the fish